Shunpo to the Future!
by Epsilon Zeta
Summary: You know those epic time travel stories where a heroic time traveler comes back to the past to save it from a dark future? This story AIN'T one of them. MAJOR CHAPTER 12 REVISION WHICH SETS UP FOR NEW SHUNPO SEQUEL!
1. That damn Sandal Hat !

**Shunpo to the Future! – That damn Sandal Hat… !**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

It was a quiet night on the outskirts of Karakura Town. A gentle breeze flew through the corners of the town, soothing anybody who felt it against their skin.

Well… except for Izuru Kira. The breeze felt like the touch of Death against his skin. He can't really say if Hisagi-sempai, Abarai-kun or Hinamori-kun felt the same but they probably did.

It was supposed to be a simple field exercise in slaying some dummy Hollows. The students of Advanced Class One were putting their zanjutsu and kido training to the test in teams of three. There wouldn't be a need to worry about real hollows being attracted to the reiatsu in the area since a group of sixth year students were maintaining a spiritual barrier to prevent detection.

Plus the class would be supervised by Hisagi Shuuhei, one of the most infamous sixth year pupils in the Academy. His skills were so advanced that he was already being sought out by some of the Gotei 13's Divisions. According to student gossip, he seemed to be leaning towards the Ninth one.

In any case, what should have been a routine field exercise turned into a nightmare.

The students maintaining the barrier were killed along with Hisagi's two teammates, Aoga and Kanisawa by a Huge Hollow (at least that was how sempai had described it). It took a team effort to block what would have been a fatal attack on an already wounded Hisagi Shuuhei and get it to temporarily retreat with the three first-year students using the same hado spell. Then it gave an earth-shattering roar and called for additional Hollows to come to the now-unprotected exercise field.

And the extra bad news? Hisagi-sempai told them that when he barely dodged the Hollow's surprise opening attack, his communicator to Soul Society had been badly damaged before he could send out a distress call.

"I don't want to die..."

A part of him wondered why he didn't obey Hisagi-sempai's orders to flee in the first place. Damn Abarai-kun for convincing him to go back!! And damn Hinamori-kun for rushing back to help sempai in the first place when he specifically ordered them to run!

"I don't want to die..."

So much for his dreams of getting a division placement before he got out of the Academy.

"I DON'T WANT TO-" Kira's voice froze when he felt a huge amount of spiritual pressure flood the area. 'This reiatsu... ! Did Soul Society send a Captain to help us?!' He couldn't give it too much thought because his body was forced against the ground due to the spirit power this individual was leaking.

He couldn't see anything and all he could hear were the battle cries of a young man and a zanpakuto slicing through all the Hollows like they were nothing. The fight only lasted for a minute and then there was silence.

Footsteps were approaching the group of four. Then an annoyed voice rang out. "Oi... I save your asses and this is the thanks I get?"

"Y-your... power..." squeaked out Hinamori.

"Hm...? Oh, right! Just like that time Kenpachi... my bad." The spirit pressure dropped to allow the group to breathe easier and to get up from the ground. In front of Kira stood a man with orange hair, Shinigami robes and a large... 'cleaver' for lack of a better term in his right hand. The youth then zeroed in on one member of their group. "Renji? What the hell happened to you and when did you get so scrawny?"

"Scrawny?! I'll have you know that my sensei considers me one of the physically strongest students of our class..." He then paused since he recognized it wasn't a good idea to shoot his mouth off in front of his saviour. "... sir."

The minute that Abarai Renji said that word, Kurosaki Ichigo had confirmation that there was something very wrong with this picture. 'Note to self: kick Sandal-hat's ass for getting me into this mess…'

**OOOOOOOOOO**

For Ichigo, it all started out rather innocently enough. He had made a trip to the Urahara shop to ask the eccentric shopkeeper for a way to get to Hueco Mundo to save Inoue-san. Two surprises turned out to be waiting for him there.

First were the appearances of his two comrades from his trip to Soul Society. They were intent on accompanying him to Hueco Mundo as well. Ichigo had been reluctant to let them tag along but he quickly changed his mind when Chad demonstrated his new and improved 'Brazo Derecha de Gigante'.

Second, was a new invention that Urahara had come up for him. "Before you venture into Hueco Mundo, Kurosaki-san... you will undoubtedly need an ace up your sleeve."

"But I can already use my... other power for 11 seconds..."

Urahara interrupted the youth at this point. "Which if I recall was used earlier against one of the Arrancar. It's safe to assume that Aizen is already aware of your new ability and will take proper measures to compensate for it. You need something that he won't see coming. Like how Ishida-kun has regained his Quincy power with some extra surprises. Then there's Sado-kun's increase in power as well."

"So you're saying you have something for me to use as an Ace?"

The shopkeeper gave his usual cheery grin. "Bingo, Kurosaki-san! It's a device I've cobbled together which would allow the user to travel far larger distances when using shunpo. All you need to do is concentrate some of your reiatsu into the device when using shunpo. The spirit device would trigger the kido stored in its core and increase your distance. Of course, it's far from perfect but I believe this can come in handy when you need to make a quick getaway once you have retrieved Inoue."

This caught the youth's attention. "Will I need to do some incantation or something?"

"This isn't like hado or bakudo. There'll be no need." Urahara then reached into his jacket's pocket and presented Ichigo with the item.

The teenage Shinigami simply stared at the item for ten seconds. "... why does it look like a mini De-Lorean?"

"There's a very specific reason for that, Kurosaki-san," said Urahara in a very serious tone. Ichigo carefully awaited the shopkeeper's next words since his life may very well depend on them.

"The reason is... because it's cool."

This earned Kisuke the infamous Kurosaki kick, a technique developed to deal with a psychopath of a father. "QUIT MESSING AROUND!!!!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"What's taking Kurosaki so long?"

A slight shrug came from the other teenager (who seriously looked like a man almost twice his age). "You seem eager to go to Hueco Mundo, Ishida."

The teenage Quincy merely adjusted his glasses. "I'm simply concerned for Orihime-san's well being."

Chad nodded, recalling the story that had been told by the Quincy about his own adventures in Soul Society. He could understand Ishida's reasoning behind the strong urge to protect her. "Urahara-san is confident that she will be not be harmed by Aizen since he perceives her as someone with valuable power. We must believe in her ability to survive long enough until we reach her."

The look on Ishida's face did not change in the slightest. "I'm also concerned about the type of prisoner garb the Arrancars will provide for her. Their fashion sense leaves much to be desired."

"..."

The moment of awkward silence was interrupted when they both felt a large shockwave of spirit energy on the other side of the large chamber. Both males quickly shot up and moved towards the source. When they got there, all they could see was a pair of blazing lines stretching from Urahara's position to the very end of the chamber. "What happened here?!"

"Well... Kurosaki-san was testing out a new device that I had created for him as a trump card in Hueco Mundo and..."

"**D**_a_M**n** _y_**O**u **t**O **H**_e_L**l**, **S**_a_N**d**_A_L **H**_A_t!!"

Upon hearing their comrade's disgruntled and distorted shout echo throughout the chamber, both Sado and Ishida gave a look at the shopkeeper which clearly read 'I want an explanation'.

"... maybe I should have carried the 1 over after all?"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

It had been very difficult for Ichigo to yell out that final curse to Urahara as his spirit body felt like it was being ripped apart in every direction. That painful sensation lasted for exactly fifty seconds until he felt his chin slam into a tree.

"Ow…"

He fell backwards on to green grass that surrounded the forest area he had apparently reappeared in. After taking some time to regain his bearings, he hopped up on to one of the tree's large branches and looked around for any familiar landmarks of Karakura Town to see if the test had worked out.

But at some places that were supposed to have buildings, there was undeveloped land. That was a pretty bad sign right there.

He then noticed that something was missing. That mini De-Lorean that Urahara had handed to him was nowhere in his possession. 'Probably flew out of my hands when I hit that tree…'

Before he could go search for it, he heard the familiar howl of a Hollow and the damn annoying sound that his license made when it detected Hollows. 'Shit…' He looked around for a bit and saw the silhouette of a Hollow that was at least two kilometres away. As much as he would like to go search for the device so he could try and use it again to get back to the shop, he knew he had to take care of that Hollow. At least it would be a good way to vent some frustration off.

He slipped off the white rag which served as Zangetsu's wrapping and flash stepped in the direction of the Hollows.

And this brings us back to where the first segment left off…

"Um... on behalf of our group, I would like to thank you for saving our lives," said Hinamori somewhat nervously.

Ichigo simply blinked once before scratching the back of his head nervously with his left hand. "It's no big deal. I just happened to be in the right spot at the right time."

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name and what Division do you belong to?"

Shuuhei gave a disapproving look to the blonde male. "Kira, we don't have time for that. I need to find Kanisawa and Aoga's bodies and see if their communicators to Soul Society are still intact. If we're lucky, we can be back in the Academy within 24 hours. Stay here with our new friend and I'll be back in a bit."

When he saw that his sempai was a good distance away, Kira nudged the orange-haired Shinigami again. "He can't hear us now. Now back to my earlier question..."

"You really want to know my name that much?"

"Well, we can't really keep calling you 'Shinigami-san' now, could we? Just to be fair, I'll introduce our group. I'm Izuru Kira. The man who just left is Hisagi Shuuhei. That's Hinamori Momo and apparently you know Abarai Renji. How do you know Abarai-kun anyway?" continued Kira.

A drop of sweat rolled down Ichigo's cheek. "Uh... it's a long story. I'll tell you about it later. As for my name, it's Ichigo. Kurosa-"

Renji rudely interrupted him. "Hold on a second? Ichigo? As in... strawberry? That's such a girlish name! You have this badass aura around you and yet you have such a wimpy name! Hell, even Kira's got a manlier name than yours and he's not exactly the prime example of a man!" He paused and noticed the other man glaring at him. "Uh... no offense, Izuru."

Ichigo's grip on Zangetsu started to tighten. 'Must... not... slice... Renji...'

Kira ceased his glaring and addressed the orange-haired youth. "Abarai-kun does have a bit of a point. Your intimidation factor will be reduced drastically by not having a name which strikes fear in the enemy."

He mentally added Kira's name to his previous mantra.

"Would you two stop teasing him?! I think it's wonderful that Ichigo-dono is so in touch with his sensitive side! I bet he's proud to live with such a cute name!"

Renji blinked at her outburst. "Ichigo..."

"... dono?" lamely finished Kira.

That last comment from Hinamori was the last straw. With a grunt, he slammed Zangetsu's edge into the ground so he could have both hands for his upcoming tirade. "Would you guys can it?!? It's 'Ichi' for 'one' and 'Go' for 'Guardian'!! My name means 'he who protects' just like how I protected you just a few minutes ago!! Got it?!?"

"Okay, okay!! We get it!" said Kira defensively.

"... are you fond of strawberries by any chance?" Renji snorted once in laughter. "Heh... strawberry..."

Ichigo updated his note-to-self to include finding Renji and kicking his ass once he got back. "Hardy har har… I'm really laughing my ass off, Renji."

It was at that moment that Hisagi Shuuhei came into view again and rejoined the group. "So much for their communicators. They're damaged as well."

"So what do we do now, sempai?"

"We should meet up with the other students that fled, Hinamori-kun. Then we can probably… wait a second!" Shuuhei turned his attention to Ichigo. "Do you have a way to communicate to Soul Society?"

"Well… not really. I'm considered an independent Shinigami. All I got from them is this little trinket." He pulled out the license that Ukitake had given him.

"A license to hunt Hollows? I see. In any case, we should go find the other students first and then go from there. Eventually, Soul Society will notice our absence and send out a search party. We'll have to hold out until then."

"Where are we even going to start looking for them? Last I checked, they were scattering all over when the Hollow attacked," pointed out Renji.

"It's not like they know shunpo so they couldn't have gotten too far," added Kira.

Ichigo pulled Zangetsu out of the ground and slung it over his shoulder. "In that case, I'll take a look around. Shouldn't take me too long to round up the students."

Shuuhei didn't even get out a word before the other youth vanished from their sight. "So that's shunpo? Wow!!"

Kira sighed. 'Great. Hinamori has that star-struck look in her eyes again.'

About fifteen minutes later, the remaining students who had fled earlier when Hisagi had ordered them to were all assembled. It hadn't been too difficult to find them but he did have to spend some time convincing a few of the students that he was a friendly ally.

There were only nine students left out of the twenty seven that had fled and they were surprisingly all young women. The male students had been able to buy time for their female team mates to escape from the other Hollows which had appeared suddenly but it didn't take long for them to fall. Had it not been for the Huge Hollow's roar to get them to approach its location and corner Hisagi's group, the female students would have certainly been hunted down and devoured.

For some reason, one of them looked somewhat familiar. She was dressed in the standard female Academy uniform and had shoulder length black hair and sharp blue eyes that were shielded with a pair of black square framed glasses (sorta like Aizen's when he saw him the first time in Soul Society). One of the lens had been damaged though.

'There's something about her that seems so familiar,' thought Ichigo as he continued searching his memory.

"I'm glad that everyone's okay," stated Shuuhei. He then paused when he saw the female with the cracked glasses. "Lisa, will you be alright?"

"Yes but my vision will be partially compromised."

"In that case, I'll assign Hinamori-kun to keep an eye on you and give you a hand in case you have troubles due to your vision problem."

She sighed. "I suppose it can't be helped…"

'Hold on a bloody minute…!' Ichigo zeroed in on the girl again and started replacing her current look with a Japanese fuku, a braided hairstyle, a pair of red framed glasses and an erotic manga in her hands.

No doubt about it… standing in front of him is the younger version of Yadoumaru Lisa, one of the Vizards who helped train him in controlling his inner Hollow.

While pondering what to make of this new fact, another female student spoke up. "So who is the guy with the orange hair? He's really on our side?"

"Ichigo-dono saved our lives from the Hollows that had surrounded us. There had to have been at least eight Huge Hollows and he took them down in a minute!" gushed Hinamori.

As soon as she said that statement, Ichigo found himself surrounded by the other female students who peppered him with questions about how strong he is, what type of power his zanpakuto contains and if he has a girlfriend. Thankfully, Shuuhei stepped in to get the ladies to cease their rapid questioning since they had other things to worry about like returning home.

The subject reminded Ichigo that he had to go find the device back in the forest. He started to walk away from the group until Kira spoke up. "Where are you going?"

"I just need to go find something that I dropped earlier."

"Does this mean you're leaving?" asked a female student in a sad (as in fangirlish sad) tone.

Ichigo had a slightly annoyed look on his face. "Do I look like a guy who would just go on his merry way after doing what needed to be done?"

"Well, yes."

A split second later, Ichigo was rubbing his fist against Renji's head for a very painful noogie. "Owowowowowowowowow!!!!!"

He let go of the redhead and replied to the earlier question. "Normally, I try not to cross paths with Soul Society matters but I ain't gonna leave a bunch of rookie Shinigami out here where they'll be easy targets for Hollows. After I find that item I dropped, I'll be back to protect you. After all, Ichigo stands for 'he who protects'…"

For the last part, he got right in front of Kira and Renji's faces. "… AND NOT STRAWBERRY!!!"

Both young men merely whistled innocently.

**Chapter 2 Preview**:

"Greetings everyone! It's your favourite lovable mascot, Kon! Since the author doesn't have a current plan to insert me into the story, he's letting me do the preview sections instead!"

"Why do you get to do the previews?! I'm the super heroine of the entire franchise. Not Rukia… but the legendary Hiyori and if I can't get a meaty role here, I may as well get to do the preview section myself!"

"Nee-san's a lot prettier than you!! And who died and made you boss?!"

"**You really want a piece of me?**"

"… WAH!! It's no fair that you have that transformation of yours!"

"Life ain't fair so you just have to deal. Now where were we?"

"We have only a few words left to describe the chapter."

"WHAT?! But that's not fair!! Kon, you are such a motherfu-"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

"Abarai-fukutaichou? You've returned from your mission?"

"Stop with the formalities when we're off duty, Kira. And the only reason I'm back is because Yamamoto-soutaichou ordered it," mumbled the vice-captain for the Sixth Division. He downed another helping of sake before passing the bottle over to Kira. "How's life in Third Division? You doing okay?"

"To be honest, morale has taken a huge blow since the men heard that Ichimaru-taichou is a traitor and in league with Aizen. I'm at a loss on how to keep things running the way they're supposed to."

Renji wasn't sure how he could cheer Kira up before something just magically popped into his head. "Strawberries."

A beat.

"**BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!**" The two vice-captains laughed heartily, ignoring the weird glances they were getting by other Shinigami passing by.

After the laughter died down, Kira spoke up again. "Um… why did I laugh when I heard that word?"

Even Renji was dumbfounded. "I have no idea." Another chuckle escaped his lips. "Strawberries."

A beat.

"**BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!**"


	2. A First Rate Guardian who is Sensitive!

**Shunpo to the Future! – A First Rate Guardian who is Sensitive!**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

"Just admit it, Ichigo."

"Renji, enough."

"We…"

"Shut up!"

"… are…"

"Can it!"

"… lost."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Okay, so it was taking him longer to find the old Urahara shop without the familiar landmarks of Karakura Town to guide him but it didn't mean he was totally lost!

He had rejoined the student group after retrieving the device that Urahara had created for him (which now looked like a De-Lorean that had crashed into a huge tractor trailer and practically flattened the front end). Originally, Shuuhei suggested that they stay within the industrial area where they did the field exercises but Ichigo disagreed, believing that staying out in the open where they could be potentially attacked by Hollows is a bad idea. He also mentioned that he knew of a place that may have a portal to Soul Society (assuming that Sandal Hat had set up the portal at this point).

Well, even if he didn't, it's not like he would leave rookie Shinigami in the cold. He was pretty sure that the female rookie Shinigami can sucker Urahara into letting them crash at his place after they use their devastating levels of cuteness (which can probably be considered a very dangerous kido of its own in the right hands).

He looked around his surroundings carefully this time, trying to take into account familiar views and walking routes that he had experienced in his own time. "Looks like I'm in the Kasazaki district so this way."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

It would be another two hours until Ichigo could present the students with some good news and bad news.

The good news is that the structure that would be the future location of the Urahara shop is well intact and relatively clean for an abandoned structure. It seemed the owner of the business (which happened to be a futon shop so there were plenty of places to sleep) that had been occupying that spot just ditched shop (probably due to the number of letters from the local Yakuza faction that were asking for protection money lying near the register). The Karasu River wasn't too far away from where they were and from a quick check, there were plenty of fish travelling along this route so food wouldn't be too much of a problem.

The bad news is that because there's no Urahara shop at this point, there is subsequently no portal to Soul Society as well. Also, Shuuhei didn't know anything about the Shinigami patrol routes assigned to this town so looking out for them would probably be a waste of time. The only thing to do now would probably to make good use of their time in the living world by training and perhaps getting some practical experience as Shinigami.

That could wait until the morning. It had been a long day for the students and now that the adrenaline of being attacked by a Hollow had worn off, all they wanted was a good night's sleep. As students started settling down into their futons, a scary thought came to Kira. "What if Hollows attacked us while we were sleeping? They would probably be attracted by the large amount of reiatsu gathered in one area." He jumped a little when he heard the bark of a dog through the window.

"You can relax. This license will give us a loud warning if a Hollow gets within a certain radius," commented Ichigo as he held up the item.

"You mean to tell me to trust our butts to that ugly thing?"

Ichigo contemplated bringing his Hollow mask out just to show how loud the license could be but decided against it. "If you wanna stay up to keep an eye out for Hollows, be my guest. But don't come complaining to me in the morning when you can barely stand up." Just as he finished addressing Renji, the group heard a crash just outside of the building.

"What was that?!"

"A burglar?"

Shuuhei attempted to take control of the situation. "Everyone, just calm down. Whoever's outside can't see us, remember?"

"Unless they're spiritually aware or something," added Ichigo. When he received an annoyed glare from Shuuhei as a few younger students got more worried, he gave a brief sigh. "I'll go out and take a quick look, alright?" He got up and hoisted Zangetsu over his back before heading out the building.

The noises were coming from the left side of the building. He could see a few piles of garbage and an old newspaper dated August 14, 1957 (which had the front headlines as "Tokyo to be host of 1964 Olympic Games!") against a fence separating the property from land that has been purchased by someone else and to be developed. He heard some whimpering on the ground and saw a small white dog, wearing a black collar that had tiny cross decorations scattered on the outer surface, with an injured left paw.

"What the heck were you…?" He trailed off when he saw what was on top of the fence. A cat with a black fur coat and a pair of golden eyes was looking straight at him, as if studying him. He tentatively took a step forward, unsure if this was just a normal cat or if it's…

"Yoruichi?"

"Um… Ichigo-dono?" The orange haired Shinigami nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the soft voice of Hinamori Momo.

He turned around to see her standing only a few centimetres away from him. "Geez, you startled me! What are you doing out here?"

She then noticed the small wounded dog near his feet. "Oh no! He's hurt!"

"Uh… yeah. He must have injured himself when he was chasing that black cat…" His heart skipped a beat when he realized that he had taken his eyes off of the cat on top of the fence. When he looked back up, there was no sign of it. 'Shit!'

"We can't just leave him like this!" said Hinamori referring to the small dog.

He could probably use some shunpo to look around for that black cat. She could probably lead him to Urahara and then maybe…

'Dammit! What am I thinking? I did give my word to protect them and look after them for a bit.' Ichigo gave a resigned sigh. Besides… if the Urahara back in his time period had created such a messed up device, what were the chances of the Urahara here being able to put it back together and help him get home? It wasn't like he had blueprints of the actual device or a detailed diagram of how the kido core was constructed to help this Urahara make heads or tails of things.

He bent down to pick up the dog and was a bit surprised when the dog's head turned in his direction to look at him right in the face. "Hinamori-san, go check if there's a first-aid kit in the shop. I'll see if I can patch up this guy's paw."

At his declaration, her eyes glazed over with a mix of happiness and adoration. "Right!"

A few minutes later, he was wrapping up the injured paw with some white cloth found in the kit that the shop carried. Being the son of a doctor, performing light medical work like this was fairly simple. After cutting the last strip, he placed the tools back in the kit. "There… that should hold for now. Now don't get yourself into any more trouble, alright?" He rubbed the dog's head gently and it responded with a happy bark.

"Awwwwwwwwww……"

The chorus of female voices alerted him to their presence as pretty much all ten of them had witnessed that warm and fuzzy moment. Ichigo's scowl quickly came back to his face. "Go to bed already!!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'… damn, I hate this ceiling.'

It had been over an hour since everyone had settled into their own respective futons and he still couldn't get to sleep. It couldn't be helped though since he was practically stuck in a very different environment. The dog seemed to be resting just fine, dozing near the end of his feet.

"Ichigo-dono?"

He sat up from his futon to see the silhouette of Hinamori Momo outlined by the moon's light through the window. "Oi, what's wrong?"

"I'm having trouble getting to sleep. With all that's happened and all…"

"You really should get some rest. Remember what that Hisagi guy planned for tomorrow? You're gonna need your strength since I'll be helping out with your training." He was about to fall back into bed until she spoke up again.

"Um… I was wondering if we can just talk for a bit…"

"About what?"

She started fidgeting as she tried to think up of some appropriate subjects. "Maybe a little more about yourself. How about your dreams and your goals or maybe a story from your past?"

"A story? I suck at storytelling. Whenever I told a story, Yuzu complained that I'm not doing the voices of the characters right like my old man."

"Yuzu?"

After pausing, he figured that as long as she didn't pry for heavy details, he could talk a little bit about his family. "One of my little sisters. The other one's Karin. I'm thankful that they haven't gotten involved in my… line of work."

"You don't want them to become Shinigami? Even if they had some spirit power?"

Bits and pieces of the story of how everybody in Soul Society practically became Aizen's chess pieces after he slaughtered the Central 46 Chambers and began issuing out false orders came to his mind. "It would mean being bound to an absolute system. Do you know how the Central 46 Chambers works?"

Hinamori shook her head. "We haven't explored that topic in great detail yet."

Ichigo's brown eyes hardened as he recalled the story that Hanatarou told him during his week of recovery in Soul Society. "All I know is that it's made up of exactly 46 people. A whole bunch of wise guys and a handful of judges. They basically judge Shinigami for serious crimes and once they make up their minds, the decision is absolute. Having a legal system based on absolute decisions without the ability to contest it… that's a bunch of bull."

"Our sensei told us that the Central 46 Chambers have been in existence since the royal family delegated deep political and military matters to them. Surely, they would make their decisions with utter care and the best of intentions!"

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions, Hinamori. And a system that refuses to change alongside a constantly changing environment will lead to a disastrous and destructive outcome." He sighed before falling back into bed. "All this heavy talk's making me feel drained. I'm going to try and sleep. You should do the same."

"I'm sorry for disturbing you," said the young woman in a depressed tone.

"Don't worry about it. What kind of guardian would I be if I kept turning away people who just wanted to talk?" He rolled to the side to get more comfortable, showing Hinamori his back side.

"Um… if it's okay with you, can I stay here? I promise I won't bother you."

"… stay as long as… YAWN… you want…"

She watched him as he lay on his side and scratched his butt with his left hand. 'It's funny… only a little while ago, I simply wanted to work hard towards joining the Fifth Division because of how everyone spoke highly of Aizen-taichou. One of the best Shinigami to come about in the last century in terms of power and conduct. With Ichigo-dono… he has some similar qualities but it's so much easier to feel connected with him because of how down-to-earth he is. I wonder how one can become an independent Shinigami like him…'

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"… mori… up…"

She could vaguely see the bright light shining through the window through her closed eyelids. "Huh?"

The voice became more clear as her senses started to wake up. "Get up, Hinamori. The day's ticking away."

"Oh… good morning, Lisa." Hinamori looked at the other female student and was startled to see a strange little smile on her face. "Um… why are you smiling like that?"

"I see someone had a little bit of luck with Ichigo-san…"

"Eh?" She looked down and saw that a black kimono had been wrapped around her body to keep her warm while she slept. Her face immediately turned red as her nose picked up hints of his scent from the black cloth. "I-I need to return this to him! Where did he go?!"

"He went to go get breakfast from the river with Renji and Kira. But they've been gone for almost an hour. What's taking so long?"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"It's coming your way, Kira!"

Izuru Kira waited until the fish was only a few feet away from him before plunging his katana into the water of the Karasu river to try and skewer it. Of course, he lacked the fishing skills that Renji developed while living in the Rukongai and naturally missed. "Dammit!"

"THIS IS SUCH A WASTE OF TIME!!" roared Ichigo as he started making his way from the centre of the river to more shallow ground.

"Then you're just going to let everyone go hungry?!" countered Renji.

The orange haired Shinigami picked up his zanpakuto which he had set aside when he first entered the water. "Izuru-san, Renji… get out of the water."

Even though they were unsure of what he was going to do, both Academy students got out of the water as instructed. Ichigo slung a large fishing net over his right shoulder and then placed Zangetsu's tip into the water before he started concentrating a small amount of reiatsu into the weapon. "_Getsuga Tensho_!"

The water within a one mile radius in both directions erupted like a geyser, leaving several fish hanging in the air. Seizing the chance, he leapt into the air and opened up the net to scoop up the fish before gravity kicked in to pull them back into the water. When he landed, Kira saw that there were at least nineteen, perhaps twenty fish (of different types) flailing around the net. "Whoa…"

"Hah! You used some special ability to catch those instead of real fishing skill!" Renji grinned to himself, feeling secure in the fact that he was at least superior to Ichigo in terms of fishing technically without the use of Shinigami powers.

"So you would rather spend a few hours trying to catch enough fish for 14 people in a river that has this strong of a current?" asked the orange haired youth in a dry tone. "In any case, we gotta clean up these fish before we can start cooking."

"Clean up?" asked Kira.

"Yeah. First, we gotta scrape away the scales and then cut them open to take out their guts. Unless you guys like fish guts…"

"Fish guts are the best! I remember back in the Rukongai how often I would fight for the last helping of fish guts with Rukia. Ah, good times…"

Upon hearing Renji's comments, Kira's face turned slightly green. "I think I may want to pass up on breakfast."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

After the morning meal had been consumed by the students (and the dog which still hung around with them), Shuuhei first led the group with standard warm-up exercises that would be done before zanjutsu training in the Academy dojo. Then they followed Ichigo for a light jog towards the park located in the Mashiba district of Karakura Town. There weren't many people there on this day as the majority of residents are preparing themselves for the Chrysanthemum Festival.

Once at the park, the substitute Shinigami began to speak. "Now I've heard you usually do some kido training or some formal zanjutsu stuff at your Academy or just listen up on some boring lecture, right?" He got some affirmative nods from the group and heard the dog bark once before continuing.

"I'm going to be honest with you… in terms of formal zanjutsu stuff, I know squat. In terms of kido, I can say for sure you're all better than me. I never had any of that formal training during my entire time as a Shinigami. Do you want to know how I was able to get to where I am now? The answer is simple…"

He paused for dramatic effect. "Others beat the weakness out of me. Basically, what happened in the past is that whenever I lost a fight, I was able to see which areas I was weak in. It forced me to improve upon those areas so that the enemy wouldn't be able to take advantage of that weakness again. Now, I'm gonna offer to help beat some of the weakness out of you. If you think you can't handle what I have in store, you can speak up now. Hisagi-san can probably come up with exercises more suitable for your level."

When nobody budged from the group, he nodded once before continuing. "To make things easier for you, I won't use my zanpakuto, shunpo or increase my spirit pressure. This session's gonna be pure body conditioning so that you can handle higher amounts of reiatsu better. Let's start off with a little sparring and my first opponent…" He pointed a finger at a certain redhead. "… will be Abarai Renji!"

"Eh?!"

"You said you were one of the physically strongest students of your class, right? Let's put that to the test," said Ichigo with a grin that would perfectly suit his Hollow side (or the future Eleventh Division Captain, Zaraki Kenpachi).

'Oh… shit…'

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The day passed quickly and all of the students had exhausted themselves sparring against Ichigo. Although Shuuhei managed to hold out a lot better than the rest given his years of experience, he didn't fare much better than the rest of the class.

While the students were trying to catch their breath, the dog that had accompanied them started to bark excitedly and limped over as fast it could to a human male that had entered the park. When Ichigo got a good look at that man, he was startled to say the least.

He was in his early twenties at the most and was dressed in black dress pants and shoes, a white short-sleeved dress shirt and a black tie. His skin colour was somewhat pale and he had a pair of square framed glasses that complimented his black hair that he had tied into a ponytail. When he saw the dog coming to him, he bent down to pick it up. "You really shouldn't have wandered off like that, Marco. But I'm glad you're okay." The dog merely licked the man's right middle finger which had a ring with a cross on it.

The young man then stood up and bowed his head gracefully. "I'm grateful that you have looked after my dog up to this point, Shinigami-san."

"… what's your name?"

"Ishida. Ishida Soken. A pleasure to meet you," replied the man with a genuine smile.

**Chapter 3 Preview:**

"Ahh! It's very exciting to be doing a preview! Let's do our best, guys!"

"Enough with that type of positive pep talk, Shun'o and let's get on with it!"

"You're such a grouch, Tsubaki!"

"Ayame, how would you feel if the guy who saves your life is a big fat ass who looks gay in that green suit and pink hair? It's unbelievably embarrassing!"

"Let's not get into that detail and give the readers a taste of what's up next! Baigon, will you do the honours?"

"Thank you, Hinagiku. With the Shinigami from the future confronting the grandfather of his friend and rival-"

"Hold on a freaking second… does that dumbass even know that's the sewing nerd's great old man?"

"We're almost out of time."

"Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious, Lily. And we don't even get a single bit of extra info to the reader! You guys all suck!"

"… I think Tsubaki's mad because he only had one moment to kick ass in the entire series…"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

"I'm having trouble getting to sleep. With all that's happened and all…"

"You really should get some rest. Remember what that Hisagi guy planned for tomorrow? You're gonna need your strength since I'll be helping out with your training." He was about to fall back into bed until she spoke up again.

"Um… I was wondering if we can just talk for a bit…"

"About what?"

She started fidgeting, which is a clear indicator of how nervous she was. "Well… I was wondering… what gets you excited?"

"Huh?"

"Your biggest turn on! Do you like it when a girl gives you a BEEP or a BEEP? Or would you be more horny if you were able to stick your big, hard BEEP into a hot, wet and tight BEEP? Or maybe even an extremely tight BEEP?" She paused for a moment. "What was with all the beeps earlier?"

"THIS FIC IS SUPPOSED TO BE RATED T AND NOT M!!! STOP WITH THAT TYPE OF TALK AND GO TO BED ALREADY!!!"


	3. Hospitality of the Quincy!

**Shunpo to the Future! – Hospitality of the Quincy!**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

There was an unspoken tradition that existed in the Shinigami's Academy which had apparently been started by the current Eighth Division Captain, Kyoraku Shunsui. Essentially, the first field exercise for the first year students was to be a rite of passage, one may say. It was a time when strong bonds of friendship were formed between the new wave of students which would last them for the rest of their careers as Shinigami.

So this was the precise reason why there had been little reaction when Hisagi Shuuhei's group had not returned by the appointed deadline. Although they had not reported the completion of their training and requested the gate to Soul Society be opened by the assigned deadline, the administrative staff let things slide since they too had gone through the same bonding experience to create fond memories. Besides, there had never been any problems with previous freshmen groups that went through the same thing throughout the Academy's history.

It was approximately five hours after the deadline when the staff finally decided to assemble together a retrieval party for the student group. Just when the group had finished preparations, the large Headmaster had made an unexpected visit. "Sir?"

"Cease your preparations," informed the large man.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

He addressed the female who had just spoken. "Just now, I've received word from Yamamoto-soutaichou about an irregular spike of spirit energy that was detected near the area selected for Hisagi's group to do their field training. It had been reported to him only thirty minutes ago by Twelfth Division after they finished their initial analysis. He will be sending a Covert Ops squad to investigate the scene and if necessary, perform clean up duties to prevent disturbance to the physical world."

"What of the student group, Headmaster?"

"All we can do is wait for the report from the Covert Ops. We are not to initiate our own investigation of what happened. In the meantime, I am suspending further field trips into the living world until further notice and would like all of you to meet me in the staff conference room where we will talk about enforcing the assigned deadlines."

A shiver traveled up the spines of each administrative staff member who had been on duty that night. They'd be lucky if they still had jobs at the end of all this…

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The report from the Covert Ops wasn't a pretty one as Yamamoto relayed the information to the other Captains of the Gotei 13.

"Out of the sixth-year students and the freshmen students that were in the living world for their field training at the time of the incident, only thirteen names were unaccounted for. The squad had to spend some time retrieving all the dead bodies within the vicinity and then clean up the blood stains so that any human who touches the surface won't feel that there's something off about it. Unohana-taichou, I ask that you prepare some of your men to attend the Academy to help talk to the students about what had happened and why some of their friends will not be returning."

"Understood."

"But what of the thirteen students that have not been accounted for?" asked Fifth Division Captain, Aizen Sousuke.

"I will be organizing a group to go down to the living world to search for them when evening falls in the designated area," replied Yamamoto.

"Then may I be a part of this group? It's possible that they have witnessed something important and I would like to ask the students a few questions."

A few of the Captains grimaced at the thought of Mayuri joining the group and getting his hands on the missing students (assuming they were still alive). The only outcome that could arise from that possibility was the students being even more traumatized. "Sir, I believe I would be a better choice than Kurotsuchi-taichou. Seeing a friendly face will probably ease the students' anxiety," said Aizen.

"Permission denied. I will require the both of you to fully analyze the readings picked up when that spirit power spike hit. We need to know if we are dealing with a powerful new type of Hollow or if it's a renegade Shinigami and if there's a connection between that spike of spirit power and the students who were killed."

"Do you think it could be… _her_?" It was difficult for the other Captains not to pick up the distaste in Soifon's question.

"I do not believe so since there has been no sign of her in the past 50 years but I will not rule out the possibility. You have your orders. Dismissed."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'Ishida… Soken, huh? I wonder how he's related to Uryu. Considering the time period… probably a great uncle or a grandfather…' Considering that Uryu and Ichigo were never close friends to begin with, the teenage Quincy in his own time period had felt no need to spill any details of his family with the others so the Shinigami had to do a bit of guesswork on his own.

He then realized that he hadn't even returned the courtesy of revealing his own name. "Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Ah… 'one who protects'… a fine name, Kurosaki-san. Are you some sort of trainer for future Shinigami?" asked Soken as he noted the thirteen students that were sprawled out on the ground a few feet away from them, trying to catch their breath.

"Eh? Oh, that! I'm not really a formal trainer. And I don't have any real connection to Soul Society. It's just today that I helped them out with their training. They'll probably be heading back to their Academy soon. And you can just call me Ichigo. The others do so already."

**HOLLOWHOLLOWHOLLOWHOLLOW**

The license started going haywire inside Ichigo's black kimono as the howl of a Hollow could be heard in the distance. "GAH! Stupid thing!"

Renji merely groaned as the loud cry of the device started giving him a headache. 'Damn, that's annoying! But at least now I can believe Ichigo when he said it will give a loud warning when a Hollow is within a certain radius.'

"A Hollow?! T-this is bad… we don't even have enough energy to run far enough!" exclaimed Kira.

"Don't worry your heads off… I'll take care of it." Ichigo was about to take off when he felt Soken's hand tap his shoulder.

"Actually, it would be more efficient if I handled it." Soken placed his dog down and held out his right hand. In an instant, it was holding a bow made out of blue energy.

Shuuhei's eyes widened when he recognized the bow. "Kojaku?! That means that man…"

"… is a Quincy," finished Lisa. It was her first encounter with an actual Quincy, much like everybody else in the student group. They had only read about them in the textbooks and how their method of destroying Hollows differed from the purification process that Shinigami did.

Soken calmly collected some residual spiritual energy coming from Ichigo before bringing his left hand near his right. A string of energy along with an arrow formed as he pulled the left hand back towards his ear. After reconfirming the location of the Hollow by looking for its spirit thread, he let the arrow fly towards its target. As the arrow easily disposed of the Hollow, the license ceased its annoying alert.

"Uh… thanks, Ishida-san."

The bow dissipated now that the Hollow was no more. "If you're going to allow me to call you by your given name, I must insist that you do the same for me."

It was definitely a weird experience for Ichigo to see a virtual copy of Uryu act in a far more pleasant manner than the other Quincy. He then noticed the shape of the students and figured that they wouldn't have enough energy to make the trip back to their current shelter. Three of them were actually asleep already. "Soken-san, do you know of a place close by where we could crash for the night?"

The young Quincy got the hint and stepped forward to pick up one of the sleeping students. "My house is over this way."

"But... !"

"I insist that you come since your students really need a place to rest after you wore them to the ground!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Ichigo was surprised to see that the Quincy's residence was actually a Western style two-storey home rather than a traditional Japanese house. But he did remember from one of his history lessons on how Western concepts were used during the reconstruction period after the Second World War ended. Some architects during this time period had simply used a modified layout of the Western style home.

The sleeping students were placed in the living room couches while the other students were content just to find somewhere to sit down and chill for a bit. "Are any of you feeling hungry?"

Soken received eleven confirmations of hunger from the group before heading to the fridge to see what was available. He took out six frozen TV Dinners (which had just exploded in popularity a few years back when they debuted back in the West) that had been manufactured by an American company and popped them in his oven. He also took out some leftover rice, vegetables, pickles and meat and lined them up to be reheated in his microwave. "I apologize for not being able to offer something more suitable for this meal."

"Why are you apologizing for? If anything, we should apologize for taking advantage of your hospitality like this," replied Hinamori.

"Still, I feel that the menu for tonight's evening meal is inadequate considering the special occasion. I don't even have any saké so I hope my tea blend will be to your liking."

"What occasion?" asked Renji.

Soken gave his usual smile. "The first time a Quincy and a Shinigami have sat down together for a meal."

'That's right. There has been a great deal of animosity between the groups since the war concluded 150 years ago,' noted Shuuhei privately in his head.

"Ichigo-san, would you please help set the table?"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Dinner took about thirty minutes to prepare, what with the preparation of the TV dinners in the oven and the combined time it took to reheat the foods that Soken had retrieved from his fridge. Shuuhei, Renji, Kira and Hinamori volunteered to be the 'guinea pigs' for the student group and try out the TV dinners (even though Ishida and Ichigo did try to reassure them that the frozen meals were actually edible). A few dry dog biscuits were taken out for Marco to snack on.

While the sixth year student was munching on some mashed potatoes, he kept thinking about the history between the Shinigami and the Quincy. "Soken-san? I was wondering… have you ever hated Shinigami?"

There was an uncomfortable silence in the dining room before the young Quincy answered. "You're referring to that old war?"

"Yeah."

Soken played around with his peas while he thought up of an appropriate answer. "From what I can remember from my grandfather's stories, the generation of Quincy at that time period were hardened warriors. They had survived Hollow attacks and had lost loved ones to Hollows. And because they had no resources like your Soul Society to defeat Hollows, they had to do whatever it took to get the power to defeat the Hollows and to protect those who would be targeted by them. Otherwise, how could they redeem face for themselves and their dead loved ones?"

"I think I can understand their position at the time," murmured Ichigo.

"_I wanna get stronger."_

"_Stronger so I can protect them from Hollows…"_

"… _protect the people being targeted."_

"_I'm going to defeat him!"_

"_Otherwise… I won't be able to face my mother!"_

The assembled girls at the table were stunned to see such a serious look on the orange haired youth's face. "Ichigo-dono…"

"When the Shinigami first approached them regarding the balance issue, I have no doubt that the Quincy didn't care. After all, where were the Shinigami when the Hollows attacked their loved ones? They couldn't trust them to deal with the Hollow risings so they had to take matters into their own hands. But they probably weren't aware that Soul Society had limited resources just like nations on this living world. Because nobody was willing to step forward to try to acknowledge where the other side was coming from…"

"Things erupted," finished Renji.

Soken nodded. "It's only within this generation that we have been able to think beyond 'the pride of the Quincy'. We have come up with a plan that we would like to present to whoever is the highest authoritative figure for Shinigami. If the Quincy could act as 'first responders' since we're already in the living world, then you can send a representative to finish the weakened Hollow and purify them as normal. But so far, we haven't gotten anybody to listen…"

"I admit that your idea sounds fairly sensible," commented Kira.

"It might be able to make life easier for everybody!" added Hinamori.

The young Quincy smiled. "At least you're willing to be open to this concept. I hope you don't take this the wrong way but maybe with a little luck, your generation can advocate the idea on our behalf when you formally graduate from the Academy." He then noticed the clock on the wall. "It's time already?! Geez!"

The others looked confused as Soken quickly got out of his seat with his meal in hand and placed it on a TV tray in the living room. He then turned on the television just in time to catch the opening sequence of his favourite TV show, _Space Girl Mashiro_, which had a girl with goggles and a jumpsuit as the star. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched as he remembered who this girl was and how often she annoyed him by calling him "Berry-tan" while he was training to master his Hollow side.

"Heh… _Super Giant_ has got nothing on this!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Lisa had stepped into the bathroom to splash some water on her face and clean up her glasses after dinner had wrapped up. Ichigo and Soken volunteered to do the cleaning up while the others could go get some more rest.

Her head was still spinning after the heavy discussion at the dining table. She hadn't realized how deep the rift between Shinigami and Quincy was. Would the chance meeting with Soken hurt the chances of the students climbing up the ranks of the Gotei 13?

She then noticed something stashed away behind the Western style toilet. It was a small magazine that had an interesting picture of a bunny and a woman drawn on its cover. It also had a small icon with a bunny head with a tuxedo tie. 'What is this?' She flipped open the publication…………

………… and found herself puzzled on why there were pictures of naked women throughout the magazine.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"You didn't need to help me out with the dishes, Ichigo-san."

The young Shinigami snorted. "Man, can't you accept a guy's help when he offers to lend it to you? Besides, we wouldn't be acting like proper guests if we didn't give consideration to the host." He finished drying one of the bowls and placed it in the cupboard. "Chalk this up as another momentous event: Shinigami and Quincy tackle dirty dishes together."

Soken laughed heartily. "Some of the other Quincy would have heart attacks if they could see us now." He passed over another rinsed tea cup to Ichigo.

"Just out of curiosity, how many of you are left right now?"

The young Quincy simply stared at the soapy water. "Not too many, I'm afraid. Perhaps ten at most including myself, my father and my grandfather. We're probably the only family who actively passes down the knowledge of the Quincy to our children."

"Why?"

"It's probably because of the others being a bit too intimidated by the Shinigami who keep an eye on them. Of course, my grandfather and my father had enough courage to present their case to the Shinigami who visited them."

Ichigo nearly dropped the plate he was holding. "…… do you get visits from the Shinigami often?"

With the dishes done, Soken drained his sink of the soapy water that was used for the dishes. "They do drop in from time to time to check up on me. Actually, I can sense another group coming in to check in on me right now."

"What time will they be here?"

Before the Quincy could answer, his dog started barking loudly as someone knocked on his door. "And that would be them I believe…"

**Chapter 4 Preview:**

"Where is Zaraki-taicho? Isn't he supposed to be doing the preview this time around? He needs to get here quickly before the time allotted for the preview has expired."

"He's probably following fukutaichou's directions again. At this rate, he probably won't make it. There's only one thing left to do, Yumichika."

"What would that be, Ikkaku?"

"I must perform the Luck-Luck Dance and transfer some of my good luck over to Zaraki-taicho so that he makes it here on time!"

"He's lucky! He's lucky! Luck is on his side!"

"Luc-luc-luc, Luc-luc-luc, Lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-LUC, Luc-luc-luc-LUC, Luck, luck, luck, luck, LUCK! LucKY!!"

"And there he is now. Looks like your dance worked, Ikkaku."

"What'd I miss?! There still time?!"

"Ah! Epsi's saying that it's done, Ken-chan!"

"WHAT?!? SONOVABITCH!!!"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

"Psst! Hinamori-kun!"

She yawned once before seeing Lisa's face directly hovering above where she was trying to sleep. "What are you doing? We need to rest because of today's hard training."

"Well… it's just that I found an interesting book of sorts in one of the toilet chambers. It had strange writing that I couldn't decipher and pictures of naked women. I'm thinking that this must be some kind of personal literature for men… even though I'm confused by why there's a bunny icon with a bow tie on the front. I thought it was something for women at first."

"So why are you showing me this?"

An odd gleam could be seen in the eye behind the one clear lens of her glasses. "I want to start a similar publication for the women in _Seireitei_ and I'll need your help."

"Eh?"

"The very well-being of all women could count on you, Hinamori-kun! You're the only person suited for this mission since you seem to be the closest one out of all us girls to him! What I need is for you to get a few pictures of Ichigo-san in the nude!"

"EH?!?"

**Guest Omake - "Aizen and his missed cue"**

**(submitted by Andrew Joshua Talon)**

"Never fear, brave students, I... Gin, are you _sure_ these are the proper coordinates?"

"Yep. Selected just so for proper moonlight effect 'n everythin'."

"Well, where are the students I'm supposed to be gallantly rescuing?"

"Beats me."

"... Could you be any _less_ helpful, Gin?"

"Don't know until I try..."


	4. How Accidents Can Affect One's Day

**Shunpo to the Future! – How Accidents Can Affect One's Day**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

'Dammit!! What do I do?!' Ichigo was practically sweating bullets as the knocks continued to come through the door. Normally, he would go with his usual 'beat the crap out of whatever's in his way' approach but he didn't want to turn Soken's home into a battlefield. Slipping away undetected was unlikely since trying to bring down his reiatsu level to remain hidden wasn't very easy for him.

He now knew that it was inevitable that Soul Society would find out about him and try to get him into their custody to question him about his powers and his identity and those were questions he didn't want to answer. There has to be something he could do to turn the situation to his advantage!

'Wait a second…' His thoughts shot back to the second Shinigami that he had encountered after meeting Kuchiki Rukia. That guy who helped protect his sisters from the fight against the Grand Fisher… he didn't seem like a high-level Shinigami. Come to think of it, patrolling the living world would likely be an assignment given to unseated Shinigami.

"Soken, would you mind letting me get that?" asked Ichigo in a calm tone.

"What are you planning to do?"

"Something that's just crazy enough to work." 'After all, crazier things have happened in Soul Society.'

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"Seriously, what the hell?! Don't tell me you're not in there because I'm sure I can sense your spirit energy!" A large man dressed in the standard Shinigami shihakusho continued to pound on the door. Honestly, what was a man of his talent doing, wasting his time in the human world? As far Enjoji Tatsufusa was concerned, he was destined for far greater things in _Seireitei_.

"Um… Tatsufusa-sempai? Remember the last time that you swore you felt something and only ran into a black cat?" asked Takezoe Kokichiro, one of his squadron subordinates.

"Shut up! My ability to sense spiritual energy is the best out of all the Twentieth Seat officers of the Eighth Division! I tell you there's something massive in-" He was cut off as a large spirit pressure flooded the area just as the front door opened. 'This powerful spirit force… could it be a Captain?!' Tatsufusa looked over to see a young man with orange hair, dressed in his own Shinigami outfit with the biggest scowl on his face.

"So you're the slackers assigned to patrol this area," said the man in a rather displeased tone.

At being labelled as slackers, some of Tatsufusa's courage came back. "S-slackers?! I'll have you know that-"

"Tell me how many Hollows you've found and defeated in the last day."

"To be honest… who are you anyway?" asked another nameless squadron subordinate.

"Shinigami Secret Agent… code name: Strawberry." Mentally, Ichigo was banging his head at coming up with something so stupid. "Do you know what a secret agent is, punk?"

Said nameless Shinigami looked on in awe. "Are you like a member of the Demon Arts Corps or the Special Forces?"

"That's classified, kid. Along with why I'm here in this area. But you slackers still haven't answered my earlier question of how many Hollows you slew in the past day."

"We only found and killed off four Hollows in the past week. There's not a lot of spiritual activity in this area other than the Quincy who lives here," replied Kokichiro.

"Really? Then can you explain to me how the hell I was able to pick up eight Hollows ambushing a group of rookie Academy students almost 24 hours ago? If it hadn't been for the Quincy buying enough time for me to quickly go through all of them, we would have lost the students! That implies that all the Shinigami patrolling this area aren't even doing their jobs right!! Who exactly is the leader of your little patrol squad?!"

The squadron immediately stepped back to point their fingers at a stunned Enjoji Tatsufusa . He looked around frantically and tried to think of something to appease the angry Agent Strawberry. "I… uh… er…"

Ichigo grabbed Enjoji's shoulder and got in real close to look him in the eye. "This is what you're going to do. You're going to contact Soul Society and ask them to form a gate right here in front of the house. You will return to Soul Society with the students and tell the top brass a story of how your group bravely assisted a Quincy in fighting off eight Hollows that threatened the lives of thirteen students. This works in my favour since I can continue working in secret without any interference from an inappropriate figurehead from Soul Society and this works in your favour because you will undoubtedly gain reputation from the heroic deed that you performed. It's a win-win situation just as long as you and your men don't mention a single word about me. Got it?"

Enjoji nodded enthusiastically while Ichigo mentally grinned. 'Not only will this give me some room to try and track down Urahara but this story would definitely raise public opinion in _Seireitei_ regarding the Quincy.'

"I'm glad we can come to an understanding…"

Ichigo let go of Enjoji and went back into the house to run into a bewildered Ishida Soken. "So that's your way of handling it?"

"It's working so I ain't gonna jinx it. Let's take a head count of the students so we can hand them over to the patrol group." The count only took a few minutes as they were able to account for twelve students but Lisa had not been accounted for. Soken took the top floor of the house to look for her while Ichigo checked around the basement and other rooms of the first floor.

As he passed by the open bathroom door, he saw Lisa's backside facing the door, with her attention buried in something else. "Oi, Lisa… what are you doing?"

She froze for a moment and turned to see a curious Kurosaki Ichigo standing less than half a foot away from her. Her cheeks went red for a moment before she fell forward and fainted in the male Shinigami's arms. 'Seriously… what the hell got her so worked up?' As he picked her up bridal style, he saw the magazine that fell to the floor.

'……I don't think I want to know why Soken reads Playboy.' He made his way to the front door and passed Lisa on to one of the patrol members where a gate from Soul Society opened just outside.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The first thought Hinamori had when she returned to consciousness was wondering how come Ishida-san's kitchen chair felt so comfortable. A split second later, she realized that she wasn't in a chair but rather in a comfortable bed. And her surroundings didn't have the feel of a home… but rather…

"How are you feeling?" A man with blonde hair, sunglasses and the standard Shinigami shihakusho stood over her. He held a small notebook and a clipboard.

"I'm… back in Soul Society?" She sat up to see her fellow students also lying in hospital beds that had been set up on both sides of the ward.

"Yes. You're in the Fourth Division's recovery ward. Everybody was brought back when the Eighth Division group patrolling Karakura Town saved you from the Hollows with the Quincy. Man, that's pretty cool! I hope I can do something like that too!" exclaimed the medic Shinigami as he wrote down his thoughts in the notebook he carried.

"No… that's wrong. It was Ichigo-dono who saved us…"

"…… a strawberry saved you?"

It was at that moment that a large Shinigami entered the ward from one of the doorways. The medic seemed to recognize him and took the opportunity to introduce the man. "This is the one that saved your group. Eighth Division, Twentieth Seat… Enjoji Tatsufusa!"

The man laughed loudly at the medic's introduction. "Correction, Iemura! It's Eighteenth Seat now! Me and my men each got promotions to higher seats where we can do things more interesting than-"

He got cut off as Hinamori grabbed the edge of his black kimono and yanked him closer to her so she could practically hiss out her next question right next to his ear. "Why did you lie?"

"Huh?"

There was a dangerous glint in the young girl's eyes. A glint that read as 'Sooner or later, I will have the power and skill to make your existence a very miserable one. I suggest you not give me a valid reason to.' "It wasn't you who saved us. It was Ichigo-dono. Why didn't you tell the truth?"

"Just what is all this about a strawberry anyway?" complained Iemura. "Is this some sort of residual trauma? Maybe I can finally do something!"

"…… please give us some privacy, Iemura," said Enjoji in a quiet and rather uncharacteristic tone.

The Fourth Division medic looked startled for a moment before he vacated the ward. As soon as he was out of sight, Hinamori let go of Enjoji's kimono. "Start talking."

As the larger man started explaining to the girl the truth that he had learned about Agent Strawberry, both of them failed to notice the strange looking Hell Butterfly that had stuck itself to the ceiling.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Now that he no longer had to look after Academy students, Ichigo was now free to start searching the country for the only hope that he has to get back to where he belonged. He did comb a few districts of Karakura Town in the early evening before he came back to Soken's house to rest up for the following day. He honestly didn't want to intrude but since the Quincy insisted that he be his houseguest for a while as he felt this was a good way to help build relations between the two Hollow slaying groups.

In any case, he didn't need to worry about eating healthy or being unable to get a proper night's rest. He actually felt pretty damn good when he woke up the next morning to start his search again.

It had taken him the entire morning from when he got up to finish searching each district in Karakura Town since he toned down on his use of flash steps to avoid being detected easily by other representatives of Soul Society. He met up with Soken at the Quincy's school around noon to grab a quick lunch before heading to Naruki City, Karakura's neighbour city.

'Man, this is gonna take forever…'

**HOLLOWHOLLOWHOLLOWHOLLOW**

'Dammit!!' The license started to give out that annoying beep again just as he heard that familiar howl of a Hollow. Come to think of it, the sound looked like it was coming from where he could see some smoke ascending into the air. Wasting no time, he flash stepped in the direction of where the smoke came from.

When he got there, he arrived at the scene of a major accident involving five vehicles. A large Hollow, probably around the size of the first Hollow that he had faced prior to taking Rukia's Shinigami powers, was eagerly devouring a number of souls that had belonged to the people who died in the accident. It then paused as something else caught its eye. "**You… look like quite a treat…**"

'No time to dawdle now… MOVE!!' Ichigo sprinted forward as the Hollow's hand started to descend.

"**FEED ME!!!**"

The hand never got a chance to get a grip on the Hollow's new target as Ichigo's zanpakuto easily sliced off the limb.

"**AAAAUUUGGGGHHHH!!!!**" It was the last scream it would ever make as the Shinigami leapt up and split the head into two.

"Che… how troublesome…" He slung Zangetsu over his shoulder and glanced at the soul on the ground. "Oi, are you-" His eyes widened as he saw the soul of a girl with green hair, red gloves, boots and scarf, a white jumpsuit and freaky goggles. She had the remnants of her Chain of Fate sticking out of her chest.

"Y-you saved me?" asked the star of the TV show, _Space Girl Mashiro_.

"……you've got to be shitting me." Sirens could be heard in the distance and he would rather not get in the way of the emergency workers. He scooped down to pick up the girl and leapt off to a more discrete place where he could try and sort out this latest mess.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"Agent Strawberry, huh?"

Hearing Yamamoto's old voice right behind him caused Kurotsuchi Mayuri to give an undignified squeak of surprise. He turned around nervously to greet the Captain of the First Division. "S-soutaichou?! What are you doing here and who let you in?!" Honestly, he should have sensed the old man's presence!

"One of your men let me in when I came to check up on whether you had found any clues relating to the incident earlier. Looks like you did find something of importance," said the old man as he pointed to the feedback that Mayuri was receiving from his robotic Hell Butterfly.

"Indeed… I can only imagine the valuable data I can obtain by studying him! With your permission, I will go down to the living world to capture the subject myself!"

"Have you completed your analysis yet?"

By the way Yamamoto asked that question, Mayuri felt like a child who was being asked by a parent if they completed their homework yet before they could go outside to play. "Well… not really…"

"Then get back to it. I will be assigning someone else to apprehend the target."

"But…!"

"You have your orders, Kurotsuchi-taichou." With the matter settled, Yamamoto departed from the lab, leaving a fuming Twelfth Division Captain behind.

It looks like there will be a great deal of openings in the Twelfth Division in the near future…

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Ever since Ichigo stopped his movements on the rooftop of an apartment building, he had been wondering how to snap the TV star out of her funk after he had told her bluntly that yes, she is dead. When it came to these pre-Soul Burial comfort speeches, Rukia was better than him.

An idea did eventually come to him on how to open the conversation. "You know, I did see an episode of your show last night."

Some life came back into Mashiro's eyes. "Really? How was it?"

"Um… it was the first time I watched the show. My friend's a big fan of it though." The light in her eyes dimmed down a bit.

"I'm glad we had some fans of the show. Those scary TV network presidents don't seem to like us much." She wrapped her arms around herself, thinking of her last meeting with those men.

"What do you mean?"

"We were on our way to the NHK headquarters to talk about the future of the show. In a way, I think I'm glad we were in that accident. I don't know if I could take it if I learned that the show got cancelled."

Ichigo started wrapping Zangetsu in its usual long white rag. "Do you think your show was good enough to remain on the air? What type of show is it anyway?"

"The show's story was about a female superhero that travels around in space and protects innocent worlds from the Bount, a race of aliens who seek to live forever by consuming the spirits of other innocent aliens!"

"………I don't think I'm going to get into how horrible your show's villains are but in any case, your character had special super powers to help fight off the Bount, right?"

Mashiro nodded.

"Just before I killed the Hollow, it targeted you specifically and said something about you being a treat. I'm guessing you must have some spirit power inside of you. Hollows are attracted to souls that have spirit power."

"Hollow? That monster you killed?"

He finished wrapping his zanpakuto and slung it on his back. "Yeah. In fact, I bet it caused the accident in the first place so it can force your soul out and devour it but I can't be sure. In any case, with the proper training, you can become a real hero just like me."

"A real hero… that sounds nice! Will you be the one to teach me?"

"I suck at teaching but what I can do is send you over to Soul Society where you can enrol in the Academy that trains Shinigami. It'll be a bit of a long road but I think you can handle it."

"If you think so… then I'll do my best or my name is not Mashiro, Defender of the Cosmos!" She struck a cheesy superhero pose.

"Oi… you can cut that out you know…" Ichigo stepped forward with the hilt of his zanpakuto ready.

"Before I go… can you tell me your name?"

"Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo. Keep that to yourself, ok?" said the orange haired youth with a smile.

"Sure. Thank you for everything, Ichigo." She gave him a quick peck on his cheek which caused him to blush a little before he tapped her forehead with the flat end of his zanpakuto. A few seconds later and she was gone. It was also at that moment that he realized something when he noted that he had no familiarity with his surroundings.

"SHIT!!! I'M LOST!!!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

At the same time, several miles away, a lone Shinigami appeared in the living world in front of an elementary school located in one of the districts of Karakura Town. He was a fairly well built man and had the standard Shinigami shihakusho but he also wore a sleeveless white haori with a diamond shape on its back which had the Chinese character for Ten on the back. As for head accessories, he had a black bandana that covered his hair and a pair of stylish sunglasses made for him personally from his friend Shirogane Mihane. A small tattoo with the symbol for the Tenth Division could be seen on the back of his neck.

He took out the paper which contained his orders from a pocket inside his haori. The orders were to track and apprehend the subject known as 'Agent Strawberry' and bring him back to Soul Society alive. As the subject's power levels were suspected to be at least Captain-level, his communicator to Soul Society will be kept on at all times so he can request his limit to be released quickly.

After replacing the paper back into his haori, he took a moment to enjoy the scenery around him. 'This should be an interesting mission…'

**Chapter 5 Preview**

"We have noted a disturbing trend that the author likes to use these preview sections to write humorous skits that have nothing to do with the actual content of the next chapter. Therefore, I shall not waste any time-"

"Hey! Why does a scrawny guy like you get to do the preview?!"

"Because I will actually put some effort into giving the readers a taste of what's up next, unlike you Omaeda-fukutaichou."

"You wanna run that by me again, Chojiro-teme?!"

"If you guys aren't gonna do it, I will! Next time on Shunpo to the Future… my stomach!!"

"Your stomach?"

"I think I'm gonna puke!!"

"Wait a second, Iba-san! Point yourself in the-"

"_**BBBLLLEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!**_"

"AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

"A Shinigami secret agent? Wow!!" Hinamori had that starry look in her eyes at the thought of Ichigo-dono's true identity.

Enjoji nodded. "It's just like that book series that my buddy is reading to some of us guys at Eighth Division. He's got the latest one which is called _From Russia with Love_."

"A book series? About the life of a secret agent?"

"Yep! A secret agent takes on dangerous missions, gets a whole bunch of goodies and gadgets to help him take down his target and of course, there's always been a major female character that gets involved with the secret agent in one way or another." He paused when he saw the girl go still for a moment and started sweating nervously. "Uh… hey…"

"Do you…" She swallowed nervously once before looking at him square in the eye with that type of dangerous determination.

"Do you know what I have to do to be one of those major female characters that you described? Please tell me!"


	5. Resolve to Stop the Rain

**Shunpo to the Future! – Resolve to Stop the Rain**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

It was early in the evening when the citizens of Karakura Town started their activities for the Chrysanthemum Festival. There were many lifelike clay characters around the city that were dressed in fresh chrysanthemum robes and they were positioned to recreate legendary and historical scenes.

Ishida Soken had plans to go down and enjoy the festival mood as soon as he walked his dog and did his school reading for the night. It wouldn't do for him to fall behind classes just because of a fun festival happening right in the heart of his hometown.

"ROWF!!"

He felt Marco tug him in a random direction. "Hold your horses already!" The dog probably wanted to leave his scent on other areas of the park that they were currently in. As he followed behind, he noticed several red spirit threads far away in the distance. He couldn't clearly see where exactly they were all located though.

'It looks like the Shinigami have stepped up their patrols…' Well, at least he won't have to go out for Hollow patrol this evening with a group this large overseeing the town. And speaking of Shinigami, Ichigo still hasn't returned from his trip to the neighbouring city but he's probably enjoying the sights and sounds of their festival activities.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'This blows.'

Ichigo honestly never made that many trips to Naruki City back before he got into the whole Shinigami business and at that time, he could barely navigate through the place with a map. And now here he is without a map and in a completely different time period and that meant it was going to take him quite a while to get back to Karakura Town.

He moved carefully among the crowds that were gathered for the festival activities. They all looked so happy and carefree. It had been roughly seven years since he last went to a festival with a carefree mood like the crowd. Back then, he always did enjoy a good festival, whether it was something like Boy's Day or Tanabata. His mother would help him, Karin and Yuzu dress up in stylish kimonos and then they would go travel down to festival grounds for food and games.

She would also tell plenty of interesting family stories that actually did happen around festivals. Such as the time his father accidentally swallowed a live goldfish during a cultural festival being run at the university that both had attended. There was another story where his grandparents on his mother's side met and fell in love at one particular festival where his grandfather practically tumbled into the girl of his dreams.

A large cry for help distracted him from his musings and he saw a number of people surrounding a food stand that sold okonomiyaki. As he got in closer, his eyes could see a fat man with a skull and crossbones design in his pink hair, dressed in a green kimono clutching his chest and rolling around on the floor. He gave one last gasp before going still.

"……am I going to keep running into all of them at this rate?" mumbled Ichigo to himself as he saw the spirit of that man, with a broken Chain of Fate sticking out of his chest, get up while his body lay still. The Shinigami slipped forward to yank the fat man's spirit forward and out of people's way.

The sudden yanking still caused a part of the crowd to tumble backwards on their rear ends. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see men and women tumble onto other people somewhere in the larger crowd that was gathering to see what was going on. He wasn't sure if this was going to be the time when his grandparents met but he had bigger things to worry about.

"Hey! What's going on?! What are you doing?!" cried out the large man that Ichigo dragged to a more secluded area of the festival. "What have you done to me?!"

He stopped when they were at a relatively remote area of the festival. "I didn't do anything. You did it to yourself when you had that heart attack. You should have figured that continuing to eat an unhealthy diet would lead to that outcome."

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry! Can I go back now? I promise to start exercising regularly!!"

"I don't have the power to repair your Chain of Fate. All I can do is help you pass on to Soul Society-"

"Pass on?! But I don't want to go yet! Not when there are so many tasty dishes I have yet to try!!"

It was at this point that Ichigo's patience started to wear thin. "There's food in Soul Society and all you need to do to get fed is have enough spirit power to train as a Shinigami or something! Now can we get this soul burial over with?!" He held up his zanpakuto and directed the hilt towards the man's big head.

"It's decided! I shall become a Shinigami so I can continue to-" He never got a chance to finish as he was bopped in the head with the sword's hilt and was whisked off to Soul Society.

'Geez… that Hachi guy wasn't so annoying back when I first saw him for my training…' He then noticed a familiar landmark in the distance that marked the border between this city and Karakura Town and smiled. It was about time some luck went his way and now he could finally get out of this place.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'I really wish he would hurry up with his business,' thought Ishida Soken as his dog continued to urinate on a particular tree in one of the small forests inside the park. He honestly never really knew why Marco had to keep on placing his scent everywhere. It was probably one of those animal instincts that he wouldn't really understand.

Just as he turned around to give his pet a little privacy, a chrysanthemum flower fell gracefully from the sky. 'What the…?' Soon, his vision was flooded with multiple chrysanthemum flowers falling gracefully around a man who sat on the base of a tree's trunk. His face was obscured by his big straw hat and a pink haori was resting on top of another white haori which covered the black shihakusho that the Shinigami wore. 'I didn't even sense his presence!'

The Quincy took a step towards this new man and spoke. "Who are you?"

He raised his head to show a rather carefree face, decorated with a beard. "Eighth Division Captain… Kyoraku Shunsui. A pleasure to meet you…" He then paused as the chrysanthemum flowers stopped falling around him and looked up. "Uh… Senna-chan? That was a bit abrupt, don't you think?"

Another Shinigami hopped down from the branch she had been standing on. She had a red sash tied around the waist of her uniform and her violet hair was in a ponytail style that was kept in place with a yellow ribbon. "May I speak frankly, sir?"

Shunsui simply gave his subordinate a goofy carefree smile. "Of course, Senna-"

He didn't even get the 'chan' out when she started her tirade. "What the hell type of important mission is this?! I thought I was gonna do something meaningful and instead, I get asked to gather as many chrysanthemum flowers as I can so my captain can look cool when he introduces himself to the Quincy!!" With the amount of rage in her amber eyes, Soken was pretty sure that she has plans to get her superior officer back for this waste of time.

"Well, it is the Chrysanthemum Festival after all," replied the older male. "And I couldn't find anyone else to help me give a cool looking entrance on such short-"

"Who cares about that?! I just want to know what our mission is so I can get back to _Seireitei_ already!!" growled Senna as she crossed her arms.

"Well, the concept that the Quincy have presented to us…" He turned to Soken briefly. "The stuff about you being the first response against Hollows before we arrive to purify them… Yama-jii has been considering it and sent me down to talk about it in detail with you."

"Really? So it only took you fifty years to figure out whether this would be worth the time?" asked Soken in a slightly cynical tone. "I'm sorry but to hear from you now is rather sudden, don't you think? Especially when my father and his father have been trying to generate interest on your side for many years."

Shunsui nodded solemnly. "I understand but there has been an extensive debate about this subject among the Gotei 13 captains and it was only recently that Yama-jii made up his mind. I'm sorry that it took so long to respond to you. When I heard about this assignment, I made a personal request to be the representative sent down to the living world. I wanted to think of this assignment as a way to start atoning for my deeds in the war 150 years ago."

Senna was somewhat floored at the honest tone in her superior officer's voice. 'Maybe there's more to him than what any of us see at the Eighth…'

That was enough to wash away Soken's doubts and he smiled. "The both of you can come back with me to my home so we can talk… and I can wash Kyoraku-san's pink haori."

"Wash it?"

"Well… that tree trunk that you were resting on? My dog urinated on its base about ten minutes ago."

"……oh." That simple statement was more than enough to vaporize the new found respect Senna had for her captain.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

It didn't take Ichigo too long to be back in familiar territory. At least now, he was more used to the Karakura Town of this period and he could navigate the streets more easily. At this rate, he could probably be back at Soken's house within twenty minutes at most.

His eyes then spotted a large field of chrysanthemum flowers that had probably been set up as a finale to the festival since there were no signs of people yet. He could probably zip through it as a short cut and save about five minutes off his trip.

Just as he was about halfway through the field, he felt a large spirit force just as he saw the sky flash white for an instant. 'What the hell?!' His ears picked up a distinct sound before his body acted out of pure reflex as he blocked an incoming kick aimed at his head. With a mighty toss, he threw the attacker's body into the air.

The attacker landed gracefully in the field of chrysanthemum flowers and looked at the orange haired youth carefully. "Being able to block my patented super sneak attack purely on instinct… I haven't seen anything like that since the Goddess of Flash was still among us."

The way the attacker spoke… and his body build… and the type of attack that the other Shinigami had used… what the hell was with all this familiarity?! Who was this Captain?!

"You definitely do have a strong spirit force… and from the look in your eyes, I don't think you'll be coming along quietly. At least you won't be able to get away. I had a squad from the Demon Arts Corps place a barrier with a radius of 4 miles in all directions. Anyone composed entirely of ectoplasm like you and I will be unable to penetrate it. And of course, I have my own backup in case things really turn hairy." He reached into his white haori and pulled out his communicator. "Release the limit. I'm going to need all my strength to subdue Agent Strawberry."

"_Acknowledged, Kurosaki-taichou_."

Ichigo's blood ran cold when he heard the response from the device. "…… K-Kurosaki?"

The tattoo on the other man's back vanished and his spirit force skyrocketed to the proper level of a captain of his calibre. The bandana disintegrated and he took off his eyewear to place them safely in his haori. "I do apologize, Agent Strawberry. It was very rude of me not to introduce myself. Tenth Division Captain… Kurosaki Isshin." Once the limit had been thoroughly released, the man vanished from Ichigo's sight.

The younger male's right hand went right to Zangetsu's hilt and he used a sideways flash step to dodge the strike from Isshin's zanpakuto before using another flash step to get right in the face of the man and clash against his sword. "You're not him!! You can't be that man!!"

A brief look of genuine confusion was on his bearded face. "I can't?"

Ichigo pushed Isshin backwards and tried making a cut to the man's waist to separate his upper torso and his legs but he jumped over the blade while gathering some energy in his fist. "Hado No 33: Sokatsui!"

The youth did a backwards flash step while holding up his sword to protect him from the massive blue spirit energy. However because of the incantation being bypassed, the spell's effect wasn't as strong.

Isshin then noticed the shape of his opponent's zanpakuto. "That's the strangest sealed zanpakuto I've ever… no, wait a minute. That's your shikai? You can't reseal your sword?"

"The hell are you talking about?!" shouted Ichigo.

"I see now… you must have little control of your massive spirit force to be able to properly seal your sword. In that case, I'm going to need to step up a bit." Isshin held out his zanpakuto along with the sheath of the weapon and placed the edges of the sword's hilt and the sheath's opening inches away from each other.

"Rise, _Kyugetsu_!!"

The tassel at the end of Isshin's hilt flared as it snaked into the sheath's opening. Both pieces glowed blue with spirit power before transforming into a large staff that had a blade and a red horsehair tassel at each end. Isshin twirled his dual blade naginata before setting the pole in a defensive position.

While Ichigo's thoughts were chaotic with the concept of whether the Tenth Division Captain was really his father in the past, he managed to keep himself together to come up with a reasonable battle plan. Since the naginata would only be effective at close range, he could use long range attacks to help pin the opponent down and catch him off-guard while he's using flash step to avoid the attack.

So it wasn't the most sophisticated of battle plans and this probably won't work too well against a Captain-level Shinigami but it was at least some sort of attack plan.

"_Getsuga Tensho_!!"

However he didn't expect that Isshin would also possess his own long range attack.

"_Tenryuha_!!"

With a twirl of his released zanpakuto, the tip of one of Isshin's blades fired a spiritual projectile of its own to cancel Ichigo's attack. Then while the weapon was in mid-twirl, the other blade fired a second identical project straight at the youth.

He flash stepped to his right before forcing his head back to barely avoid one of the staff's bladed ends. It still did draw a small bit of blood from Ichigo's cheek. The younger Shinigami used his momentum from leaning back to perform a complete back flip as Isshin tried to use his staff to sweep him. As soon as he landed on his feet, he was forced to go on the defensive again as a series of rapid strikes from the naginata came his way.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The boy's heart and mind were in confusion and his strikes were hesitant. It was no wonder that the white clad monstrosity was pissed off. Sure, he could probably understand why that bastard wasn't fighting so well with that crazy revelation about his old man but in battle, there's no time to think. The only thing that counts here is what your instinct tells you.

The buildings that made up the strange inner world were shaking and the sky turned grey, as if there was going to be a thunderstorm soon. Before he obtained the right to rule, he didn't give a rat's ass about whether shit would be raining or not. But now that he has absorbed Zangetsu, he practically shared the old man's distaste for the rain.

A small drop of water fell from the sky on his white skin and he knew that was his cue to take matters into his own hands. Because there's no way he can trust the King to handle things as they are now. However, trying to force his will was out of the question considering how strongly the King would fight back if he tried that again.

He felt the building shake harder beneath his feet but paid it no mind. Obviously, the King took another strong blow from his opponent. With his mind in chaos, there's no way he could fight at full capacity.

He paused for a second as something came to him… the King's mind is in chaos because of the revelation that instead of Kurosaki Isshin being a normal human, he had been a Captain-level Shinigami. With the right prodding, he could probably get him to see the man as he truly is…

Maybe he could still salvage this battle yet…

**OOOOOOOOOO**

_How can that man be my father? In all the time that I knew him, he was nothing more than a goofball doctor who loved his family deeply._

_But that voice, his body structure and that face… there is no doubt that the one I'm fighting against right now is the one who will become my father._

_A Shinigami captain… is he the reason why I have all this reiatsu? Would Yuzu and Karin turn out to be the same? Would they too be dragged into the world of battle?_

_If he had this power… why didn't he stop the Grand Fisher when it attacked mom?! _

_**He couldn't protect her because of his incompetence so it'll be up to us. We have to cut him down.**_

_What?!_

_**Think about it. We take him out now and she will never meet him. She can live a full and normal life. If you have the resolve to stop the rain for good, I will lend you all of my power.**_

……………

_**She was willing to sacrifice her being to protect her children. What kind of son would we be if we aren't willing to return the favour?**_

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The fight had ended for the moment with the younger Shinigami lying face down in the large Chrysanthemum field, zanpakuto still firmly in his grip. "Right now, you must be thinking… 'Why can't I cut this guy down? I'm just as fast and as powerful and as skilled as he is.' You must be thinking something along those lines, right?"

Isshin strode forward calmly with his own released zanpakuto resting on his shoulders. He had a few light cuts on his chest but nothing serious. "I'll admit that you're a damn talented warrior at your age. Unfortunately, talent can only take you so far. The difference between you and me, Agent Strawberry… is experience. Perhaps if we were both human warriors, it would be a tight battle because of my experience against your younger and fully developed reflexes. But as Shinigami, since age is not a factor, the one with more experience will have a larger edge in the battle. Yamamoto-soutaichou has been around for over a millennium and nobody in Soul Society has been able to defeat him in any competition. Whether it's something like sparring or playing Go… his experience is just too much. Just like my experience is too much for you to handle. If you continue this fight, you will lose in the end. It's as simple as that."

The orange haired youth slowly got to his knees but didn't raise his head yet.

"I'm a reasonable man, Agent Strawberry. I don't like to fight unnecessary battles-" The Tenth Division Captain was cut off as a large amount of spirit force erupted from the other Shinigami as he got up. Isshin was startled to see that the younger man's eye colour had changed from brown to a light blue as if it was reflecting the amount of spirit force being focused.

What startled him even more were the strange white spirit particles on the edges of the youth's face that were slowly coming together. "Sorry but I'm gonna have to correct you on something. You know, that thing about me losing to you…?"

He got into a horse stance while he placed his left arm on his right and raised his zanpakuto to about eye level, pointing the tip directly at Isshin. As the white rag of the sword wrapped around his right arm, the white spirit particles came together to form a white mask, with sharp teeth and the left side covered in black markings, that completely covered his face except for his flaring blue eyes.

"**That ain't happening!!**"

A whirlwind of questions entered Isshin's mind but now wasn't the time to get some answers. He already knew what the other man was going to do and twirled his staff in response so that a bladed end would rest in the palm of one of his hands. After pressing the blade into his palm hard enough to draw some blood, he smeared it against that end's respective tassel and poured his own spirit force into the weapon. Soon, his reiatsu started flaring as much as the younger man's and it wasn't too long until they were both ready to resume the duel.

"_BANKAI!!_"

**Chapter 6 Preview**

"How the hell did I get demoted from being the star of the first Bleach movie to this?! Give me a break here!! Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Oh, the horror! I want to cheer for the alternate Tyrant Papa since he is so awesome but to set an example of being a good parent, I must support my son! Masaki, what do I do?!?"

"What about me?! What will happen to my part in this story?"

"Heck if I know. If Ichi-nii wins, maybe he'll go on the run and drag you along with him as his hostage and companion."

"……KICK THAT OLD MAN'S ASS, ICHIGO!!"

"That lady and otou-san are acting very weird…"

"Just turn around and walk away, Yuzu…"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

The tattoo on the other man's back vanished and his spirit force skyrocketed to the proper level of a captain of his calibre. The bandana disintegrated and he took off his eyewear to place them safely in his haori. "I do apologize, Agent Strawberry. It was very rude of me not to introduce myself. Tenth Division Captain… Kurosaki Isshin." Once the limit had been thoroughly released, the man vanished from Ichigo's sight.

The younger male's right hand went right to Zangetsu's hilt and he used a sideways flash step to dodge the strike from Isshin's zanpakuto before using another flash step to get right in the face of the man and clash against his sword. "Wait! I can't fight you!!"

"Why not?"

"Because… I am your son!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!!! How can the heavens curse me with such an offspring?!" Isshin immediately went into a crying fit worthy of Genma Saotome.

"What the hell do you mean?!"

"That ugly mug… that permanent scowl… and the way you're acting… that means my son is going to be an emo when he grows up!!!"

"**DIE!!!!**"

**Guest Omake: The Adventures of Agent Strawberry (submitted by Andrew Joshua Talon)**

Ichigo struggled against his bonds, pushing himself as far up away from the examination table as he could with a grunt.

"Damnit!"

"Don't bother struggling, Agent Strawberry," a sinister and familiar voice spoke. Ichigo slumped and glowered at the white and black face of Captain Kurotsuchi Mayuri. The head of the Twelfth Division chuckled evilly.

"What do you want, Mayuri?!"

"Why, knowledge of course. Knowledge of who you are, and what you think you're doing," Mayuri cackled. A device resembling an old-fashioned ray gun descended from the ceiling and pointed itself at the bottom of the examination table. Ichigo's scowl grew.

"What the-?"

"That is a concentrated reiatsu beam emitter. It will quite easily cut you apart with it's focused energy," Mayuri explained calmly, as a burning hot red beam of energy shot out of the device, hitting the examination table and causing a small patch on it to burn and melt. It began to move up towards Ichigo, and the orange-haired Shinigami's struggles intensified.

"What, you expect me to talk?!" Ichigo demanded. Mayuri cackled.

"No, Agent Strawberry, I expect you to die!"

"But er... Then you won't be able to get any information out of me!" Ichigo offered, beginning to sweat from the heat of the beam as it inched it's way upwards. Mayuri frowned thoughtfully.

"True... Shut down the beam!" An unseen controller complied, and Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. His breath froze in his lungs as he saw Mayuri grinning again.

_Uh oh..._

"Then it's settled. NEMU!" Mayuri shouted. Seconds later, the purple-haired vice-captain of the Twelfth Division appeared. Her "father" pointed at the bound Ichigo.

"Apply your usual talents to him until he is willing to speak," Mayuri stated. Nemu actually smiled, a glint appearing in her eyes that Ichigo really, _really_ did not like.

"I do not expect you to talk... I expect you to scream," she purred. Ichigo gulped.

_Oh crap..._


	6. Clash! Grey vs Amber Bankai!

**Shunpo to the Future! – Clash! Grey vs. Amber Bankai!**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

'Honestly, why didn't he just say it was a diplomatic mission in the first place?' Senna looked up ahead as both the Quincy and her captain were engaging in some small talk about the different types of liquor that were around nowadays. Right now, Shunsui was the one giving a lecture about saké to Soken.

"In my personal opinion, the best way to brew saké is the _yamahai_ method. There's a month long period in which the _moto_ does its magic to make it sour and to let additional flavours be added to the brew."

The Quincy smiled politely. "To be honest, I'm not a big fan of saké. Whenever I do drink on the rare occasion, I prefer a cold can of beer."

Shunsui's face turned rather comical at hearing the Quincy's admission. "I don't believe this… how can you not like saké?!"

Soken merely shrugged as the group exited the forest and out to the quiet neighbourhood where there weren't any people around due to everyone attending festival activities. "I was wondering… did you feel something funny just a little while back, Kyoraku-san? When the sky flashed?"

"Not really." The Eighth Division Captain idly noted that the young man went up ahead and started tying Marco's leash around a street light pole.

"I see. In that case, there's something about you I would like to test… with your permission of course."

"Sure but what exactly are you test-" Shunsui didn't get a chance to finish that question as he had to flash step backwards to dodge two energy projectiles fired from Soken's _Kojaku _bow. He looked back at where the young man had been standing but he was no longer in sight.

'_Hirenkyaku_?!'

"Watch out!!" screamed Senna as two more energy projectiles were fired from above. Before they could strike their targets, Shunsui drew his _daisho_ and deflected both attacks with the katana in his left hand and the _wakizashi_ in his right.

"Are you okay, Senna-chan?" asked the male Shinigami in a low tone.

"Y-yes, sir."

"As I thought… the combat ability of a captain level Shinigami is quite impressive," stated Soken as he reappeared in front of them with his blue energy bow active. "I was fortunate that my assumptions on you were correct… with your laid back personality, you seemed to be one who would only defend and not counterattack immediately since you would prefer to avoid fighting if possible."

Shunsui frowned. "So this is what you wanted to test?"

The Quincy pushed up his glasses with his free left hand. "That but I had my own little theory I wanted to test. And it seems my hypothesis was correct… you are lying about the true nature of your mission here."

"Oh? How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Please don't insult my intelligence, Kyoraku-san. It was bad enough when you tried to lie about not feeling that distortion of spirit energy when the sky flashed. After all, how would a Captain-level Shinigami not be able to feel that? Now… the truth please."

Before Shunsui could speak, his senses went into overload as a large rush of spirit power exploded about a mile and a half away from their location. 'Well, well… looks like Isshin-san has to really go all out.'

"W-what is this giant spirit force?" Senna was shaking as she was able to feel how much power a Captain is capable of unleashing.

Soken too was in shock but for another reason. "Now I get it. Why didn't I see it before?! You were after him all along, weren't you?!"

Shunsui bowed his head, as if apologizing. "The assignment was for someone else to subdue your friend. We were to divert your attention away and keep you occupied while acting as backup for the capture team."

A cold fury settled into the young Quincy's eyes. "So the Shinigami never even considered our proposal…"

"You have to understand. The majority of seated officers have never overcome their bitterness towards the Quincy, even though the war has been over for 150 years. It's highly doubtful that it will ever be accepted in _Seireitei_."

"I see. Thank you for confirming my fears about the attitudes from the Shinigami on this matter. It seems I will have to rely on the new generation led by Ichigo-san to realize my dream." Soken placed his left hand in his jacket's pocket and pulled out a small capsule that contained a silvery liquid. He then quickly threw it to the ground and shouted out an incantation just before it hit.

"Tilt the goblet to the West – Emerald Grail!"

A large explosion blinded both Shunsui and Senna as Soken started using the Quincy equivalent of flash steps to move towards the area where the large spirit force was coming from. Realizing the Quincy's motives, Shunsui flash stepped in the same direction. He would need to end this as quickly as possible.

"Flowers are disturbed, god of flowers weeps, winds of Heaven are disturbed, demon of Heaven laughs… _Katen Kyokotsu_."

Realizing that both men had gotten way ahead of her, Senna drew her zanpakuto from her sheath and was about to start running when she felt a dampness on her left foot. She looked down to see Marco, whose leash was still chained to the pole, urinating all over her sandal.

"AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Chrysanthemum flowers had been blasted all over the place as a result of the spirit power being emitted from the two fighters. When they had both called out their final releases for their weapons, a large explosion was created as the immense spirit forces collided with one another. As it was practically impossible for people not to notice that physical explosion, Isshin took to the air with the new amber broadsword in his right hand.

Just then, he heard a noise that sounded like a cross between a lightning bolt and a gust of wind and brought up his sword behind him to block his opponent's strike. It was a good thing that he wasn't a second too late… otherwise, he would have lost his left arm. "Oi… shouldn't we at least exchange the names of our fully released zanpakutos?"

Isshin glanced behind him to see the masked warrior wielding a long nodachi that was entirely grey in colour and had a brand new white coat on his upper torso. His bottom half still had the standard Shinigami black hakama and sandals. "**… **_**Tensa Zangetsu**_**. Not that it'll matter to you anyways.**"

"That's a nice name. Let me introduce you to mine…" He pushed his opponent back and put some distance in the air before making a cut in the air to cause six additional smaller blades to emerge from his large broadsword. The six blades surrounded Isshin in a defensive formation while he got into his own defensive stance with his broadsword in hand. "_Kohaku Kyugetsu_."

Ichigo calmly assessed the other man's bankai before swinging his zanpakuto in an arc. "_**Getsuga Tensho!**_"

Isshin's eyes widened as a black energy wave left the sword and spiralled towards him in a confusing manner. Opting not to risk blocking the wave, he made a few consecutive flash steps towards his lower right side while the wave exploded from behind him. '… was that a…?' He didn't have too much time to ponder about that attack as he had to defend a fast strike from below. One of his smaller swords intersected the grey nodachi but before he could go in for his counterattack, Ichigo vanished from his sight again.

Even though he could control his six extra blades with his mind as if he were wielding them himself, he was finding it difficult to defend against the pressure that Ichigo continued to exert upon him. The Tenth Division Captain was chaining multiple flash steps together to keep moving but the other Shinigami would always be right with him to go for a cut. So far, Isshin had two cuts on his shoulders plus a cut on his right arm and the blood from those wounds were soaking into his uniform.

As he deflected another attack from the grey sword, he noticed something peculiar. After both combatants had initiated bankai, the younger Shinigami had concealed his left hand from his vision...

'Shit!!' That was when Ichigo phased right in front of Isshin and stretched out his left hand, fully charged with a _cero_, towards the other man's chest.

"**SURPRISE!!!**"

The explosive force from the sneak attack sent Isshin tumbling towards the ground but he managed to recover in the air and land on his feet on the dirt. The two sides of his upper torso just underneath his arms had taken severe burn damage from the energy attack and the entire lower half of his white haori had been disintegrated. While he was breathing heavily in an attempt to recover from defending against that last attack, Ichigo dropped down from the sky in a slow and calm fashion. "**Just how the hell did you survive that point blank...?**"

He noticed the smoke coming out of the broadsword and put it together while Isshin continued to breathe heavily.

"**I see now… your bloodmist shield took the brunt of the attack and managed to force the blast into two directions that grazed the sides of your body.**"

"Heh… you're a pretty s-sharp one, Strawberry," wheezed Isshin as he concentrated his reiatsu for his next move.

"**Compliments won't get you anywhere.**" Ichigo was about to raise his sword when he paused, as if having major doubts about the course of action he was going to take. The older man realized that this was his chance and mentally willed the six blades still in the air to slam their tips into the ground at six different points to form a hexagon shape surrounding both combatants.

Isshin then channelled the concentrated reiatsu into the blade he was holding as he slammed its tip into the ground. "_Kin Sekai – Tsukikage_!!"

As the six swords in the ground began to react to the older man's reiatsu and enveloped the area in darkness, Ichigo barely managed to curse his luck.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

About a mile away from where the Kurosaki men were fighting, another battle was taking place between Ishida Soken and Kyoraku Shunsui. While Soken's abilities were quite advanced for his age, he was up against a Shinigami captain who had been praised by Yamamoto himself as one who possesses greater powers on the battlefield than any generation, young or old.

No matter how many arrows Soken tried to fire towards Shunsui's Chain Link and Soul Sleep points, the Captain's dual blades were more than enough to block them entirely. In terms of mounting an offence against the Quincy, the human did keep himself a good distance away using his _Hirenkyaku_. Shunsui noted that eventually, he would tire and be vulnerable long enough to be knocked out of the fight.

Still, it was better to end things soon. The Eighth Division Captain stabbed the tips of his two swords on the higher end of a tree trunk when he dodged another set of arrows and used the flat surface of the blades as a mini-platform as he concentrated some reiatsu into the kido spell he was about to perform. Even though he could probably bypass the incantation, he did not want to take any chances with the effectiveness of the spell. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo No 9: Geki!"

Soken cried out as a red light engulfed him and paralyzed his entire body. The energy bow that he wielded with his right hand dissipated. "What the…?"

Shunsui hopped off his swords onto a tree branch before yanking them out of the trunk and resealing them. "That should do it. Now how about you take it easy, ne?"

"Dammit…!"

He then heard the footsteps of someone approaching them and grinned when Senna, who was somewhat out of breath, came into view. "Yo, Senna-chan! How's it going?"

"Peachy, sir."

Shunsui blinked at her flat reply and then noticed that she had taken off her socks. "Uh… what happened? And what's that smell?"

"Don't ask."

"Very well. By the way, you really do have cute feet."

"With all due respect, sir… shut up." She was beyond grumpy at this point. At this rate, she was gonna smack him a new one, regardless of whether he's her senior officer or not.

Before Shunsui could speak again, he felt a spike of spirit energy come from the Quincy and saw the young man slowly rise to his feet. 'How is he doing that? I'm certain that the binding spell is still in place!'

As soon as Soken was back on his feet, he reformed the bow with the ring on his hand. "You must be wondering how I'm able to stand when your paralysis spell is still in place. What I'm using right now is _Ransotengai_… a move that allows Quincy to continue fighting even when they are paralyzed. Now that I've answered your question…" He created another spirit arrow and fired it towards the Captain.

'Here we go again…'

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'**Just what the hell is this shit?!**'

For the past two minutes, Ichigo's entire sense of balance had been thrown off as Isshin continued to mount attack after attack on him. It was like whenever he uses the extra speed that is granted by his zanpakuto, he overshoots his distance and slams into an invisible wall which was supposed to represent the boundary of the field like one of those funny Gaijin cartoon characters. And his sword felt lighter than a feather.

Another blood stain appeared on his white coat as Isshin got in another cut. Although his hollow regeneration was in full frenzy by practically healing the cut within seconds, it was difficult to manoeuvre properly in this space.

With Isshin more in control here, he had time to think some more about the nature of Agent Strawberry and his unusual abilities. His final release of his zanpakuto wasn't something very grandiose like Mayuri or that aristocrat with the funky hair pieces who is currently a candidate to become a captain in the near future. And that mask of his… that means he's a Vizard and…

'Wait a second… a secret agent with forbidden powers and a very unusual final release. That's it! This guy's working for the Royal Family of Soul Society! Perhaps even the King himself!' Isshin smiled to himself as he came to his conclusion about the truth behind Agent Strawberry. But first, he had to incapacitate the man and get him to confirm his theory before deciding the next course of action. And the key to disabling the Strawberry must be through that mask…

While Isshin worked out an attack plan, Ichigo was doing a bit of detective work on his own. '**Wait a second… that attack name…**'

_Kin Sekai – Tsukikage_…

'**Forbidden World – Moon Shadow… my zanpakuto feeling as light as a feather and my whole sense of balance being thrown off… now I get it. This field is emulating the moon's gravity which is only a fraction of the Earth's. If I'm going to get my sense of balance back, I need to be six times heavier than my current body… that's it!**'

Just as Ichigo figured out a plan, he heard the swishing sound of Isshin's flash steps and raised his arm to block the older man's amber blade. "I think I have you all figured out, Strawberry…"

"**You don't know anything!**" He used a light flash step to put some distance between him and the old man before putting his plan into action. As he concentrated his reiatsu, his body began to grow. The lower half of his black hakama and his sandals along with his white coat burst as they could not contain his larger body. Rather than a human epidermis, there was only white skin. His hands transformed into claws and a tail erupted from his lower back. Black markings could be seen along his arms just underneath his spiked shoulders, along his exposed right leg and the end of his tail. His orange hair stretched until it nearly touched the tail and a hole formed in the middle of his chest.

'A full fledged Hollow transformation?!' Kurosaki Isshin had no time to think as the Hollow disappeared from sight and attacked from above. The two swords clashed with each other with Isshin barely able to hold off the Hollow's immense strength.

"**That's more like it! I gotta give ya credit for something as whacked up as this but now it ends!!**" The tail whipped forward to grab the Tenth Division Captain but he flash stepped backwards and bounced off the wall to charge his opponent and shatter that mask. As he brought his broadsword down, the Hollow merely grabbed the blade's tip with his bare left hand.

'Gotcha!' Isshin channelled some reiatsu into his sword for a point blank shot of his _Tenryuha_ attack. This caused a great explosion which burned off some of the Hollow's white skin and forced Ichigo backwards.

"**Damn you!!**" He quickly retaliated by channelling reiatsu into his clawed left hand and fired a _bala_ attack from his tips. With that attack being twenty times faster than a normal _cero_ attack, Isshin was caught by surprise and was open for a barrage of _bala_ projectiles which damaged his body, despite the _bala_ being weaker in power than a _cero_. With his weakened state, he could no longer maintain the Moon Shadow world and the two were returned to the normal living world.

'Crap… this is bad… I can't even move my arm to get my communicator to call for Shunsui…' Isshin looked on wearily as the other Shinigami willed cracks to appear in his skin. A bright glow could be seen inside the cracks and it wasn't too long until the large Hollow body exploded, leaving a perfectly healthy masked Ichigo with a brand new outfit as if he hadn't taken any damage at all.

The masked warrior took a moment to brush off the remaining bits of white shell from his coat and his grey zanpakuto. "**Right now you must be thinking… 'Even though I'm more experienced, why can't I defeat him?' Here's your answer… the unbridgeable gap in power between you and me is just that, plain and simple. And because of that… you cannot protect mother. This is why I have to do this.**"

"…what?"

"**It matters not. For you… it's the end of the road.**"

**Chapter 7 Preview**

"Next time on Shunpo to the Future! An interesting father and son talk! Followed by another talk between Ichigo and that evil Hollow inside! Then some other stuff with Soken and another segment in Soul Society!"

"Oh my God! You did it, Hanatarou!!"

"What is it, Ganju-san?"

"We actually got some relevant information to the reader! Take that, all you Shinigami who get so easily distracted by petty things!"

"I don't think you should be saying stuff like that."

"Hahahahaha!! Who's gonna barge in and try to chop off my head?"

"THERE HE IS!!! GET HIM!!"

"AW CRAP!! LET'S RIDE, BONNIE-CHAN!!!"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

'Mustn't kill dog… mustn't kill dog…'

Just as Senna was taking off her socks, she heard the howl of a Hollow in the distance. She smiled to herself since this was a good chance to blow off some steam after what had happened.

She started running in the direction of the Hollow and drew her zanpakuto from her sheath. It didn't take her too long to spot it. It seemed to be in the shape of a big hippo with an unusual mask. "Okay, ugly! Let's party!!"

It turned and lit up at the thought of devouring a Shinigami. But as soon as it took one step in her direction, it sniffed the air once. "**Geez, you stink!! Screw this, I'm going back to _Hueco Mundo_!**"

The female Shinigami started quaking in anger and began to yell at the Hollow as it turned its back to her, showing her its huge behind. "What?! Hey, don't you dare turn your back on me, you bastard! I'm talking to-"

**_BRAAAAPP_**

She was cut off as the Hollow passed some spiritual gas only a few feet away from her face before it vanished into the night.

"AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!"

**Guest Omake - The Adventures of Agent Strawberry (submitted by Andrew Joshua Talon)**

"I must admit, Agent Strawberry, you are a formidable foe," panted Isshin, bloody and wounded. Ichigo panted nearby, not looking much better. 

"I'm going... To kick your ass, you bastard!" Ichigo snarled. Isshin smirked.

"I don't think so, Agent Strawberry. You see... I've got a secret weapon. MATSUMOTO!"

Ichigo gaped as the busty, orange hair shinigami appeared, just as beautiful and scantily clad as she was 50 years in the future. She saluted.

"Third Seat Matsumoto Rangiku, reporting for duty sir!" She said primly. Isshin grinned.

"Matsumoto, your orders are to take care of this enemy."

"Yes sir!" Matsumoto said happily. She then frowned.

"... Er, how sir?"

Isshin rolled his eyes and pointed at his chest. Matsumoto blinked, before smirking.

"_Right..._" Matsumoto turned to Ichigo and sauntered up to him. Ichigo growled and held up Zangetsu.

"Stay back! I-I won't hesitate to use this!"

"Oh? I think you will, unless you feel like stripping me with it," Matsumoto purred. Blood began to leak out of Ichigo's nose.

"TENSA GET-!" Ichigo began, but he was too late.

"TWIN FLASH!" MAtsumoto called out as she opened her robes. Ichigo suffered an explosive nosebleed and flew back, slamming into the ground. Isshin grinned.

"Well done, Matsumoto!"

"It was nothing, Captain," she said modestly, closing her robe back up. "I am content to do my duty, for my Captain." She batted her eyes at him. Isshin grinned and gave her a thumbs up.

"Keep it up!"

Matsumoto's eyebrow twitched. _DAMNIT! He is the most oblivious captain in the universe!_


	7. The Fate Altering Decision

**Shunpo to the Future! – The Fate Altering Decision**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

Although he didn't show it on his face, Kyoraku Shunsui was getting somewhat worried about the welfare of his comrade. His sharpened spiritual senses told him that Kurosaki Isshin had been facing a particularly malevolent spirit force, similar to a Hollow's. Normally, he probably would have gone right away to assist Isshin as soon as he felt that spirit energy but he had been instructed specifically to keep the Quincy out of that fight. Besides, Yamamoto was determined not to have Shunsui engage Agent Strawberry as well since three captain-level Shinigami fighting at full power was a sure fire recipe for disaster.

He could sense one of the large spirit powers weakening bit by bit before it dropped sharply. 'Damn… I gotta finish this right away.' The hard part would be to draw the Quincy out where he can get in a quick and disabling blow. Although Soken was far from matching some of the stronger Quincy archers he had fought during the war, he could probably match their abilities given a few years of proper training.

To make the hard part even more difficult, he had to stay close to his subordinate. Although he was certain that the Quincy wouldn't resort to using Senna as a hostage to get a free path towards the battlefield where Isshin and Agent Strawberry were fighting, he had no intention of taking that risk.

There was some good news… he could sense that the Quincy was starting to run low on energy since his arrows were getting a little bit sloppier each time they were fired. He was also getting a little bit slower with his _Hirenkyaku_. It must take a lot of power to maintain that strange technique of his… or maybe he hasn't fully mastered it yet.

"Senna-chan. I need you to do something for me." Shunsui made a quick gesture with his hands.

She nodded once as she recognized the silent order before making a few hand gestures of her own as she gathered some spirit power. "Ye Lord! Mask of flesh and bone, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, Upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws! Hado No 33: Sokatsui!" The blue kido spell she fired from her palm covered a large area in front of the two.

Shunsui waited until he sensed a flicker of spirit energy fly away from one of the trees and chained a few flash steps together to get into position for his surprise attack. As he got up close to the Quincy and saw his shocked eyes, he murmured a small apology before slashing the young man's body in several places with his daisho set. The cuts were by no means lethal but they were enough to put him in no condition to fight. His body became paralyzed again as the binding spell's effect reasserted itself.

"D-damn…"

The Eighth Division Captain sheathed his weapons away before approaching the Quincy. "I'll drop you off at a medical clinic in the city before we leave. Senna-chan, please watch over him for now."

"Yes, sir."

Before Shunsui could leave, Soken spoke up softly. "Just so you know… I forgive you."

"…… hm?"

"You S-Shinigami operate like a military, right? All you were doing w-was follow orders and I can f-forgive you for that. Besides… even if I did defeat you, I would probably be powerless against your s-system… your cruel, cruel s-system…" Those were Soken's last words before he passed out.

Senna had a rather disturbed look on her face. "…… what was that about?"

"It's probably some traumatic babble," mumbled Shunsui. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

To a normal observer (or at least any observer with spiritual awareness), it looked as if Kurosaki Ichigo was calmly strolling towards the man that he would execute with his sword. For the young Shinigami himself, each step felt heavy as doubts and 'what if' thoughts continued to plague his mind.

_**This is no time for doubt or hesitation. The time to strike him down is now. It's the only way to repay mother for what she has done for us.**_

_Yes……… no, wait…!_

_**Don't wuss out on me now, Ichigo! When we agreed to take this road, we promised not to let our resolve weaken! Now finish it!!**_

He stopped at a position just out of Isshin's reach and raised his sword slowly for the finishing blow.

The other man looked up wearily into the eyes of the one who had bested him. "W-wait…"

"**SILENCE!! THE DEAD SPEAK NOT!!!**" The sword began its descent right towards Isshin's head.

"What is Kurosaki Isshin to you?!?" It was amazing how he had been able to speak coherently even when exhausted. It was also a good thing that he didn't say it a second later since the grey zanpakuto stopped only an inch from his neck.

"……… **what?**"

"Earlier, you s-said that I couldn't be Kurosaki Isshin. Y-you must have had a very different view of that man… so what w-was he to you?" wheezed the older Shinigami.

Although the Hollow side of him was screeching something about hurrying with the final blow, Ichigo paused as memories came to his mind. "**He was…**"

"_YOU'RE LATE!!_"

"_Only punishment awaits those who would disturb our family time, no matter what the reason is!!_"

"…… **an annoyance…**"

"_You let your guard down!_"

"…… **a sore loser…**"

"_BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!_"

"…… **a moron…**"

"_Good as new…_"

"…… **a healer…**"

"_Do your best, Yuzu!_"

"_HAHAHAH!!! That's my soccer superstar!! Hey, everybody!! If you want Karin's autograph, just wait after the game and- OWWWW!!!_"

"_Live to the fullest, age to the fullest, go bald to the fullest… and die long after I do. And if you can… die with a smile._"

"…… **a family man…**"

At the thought of him being a family man, Ichigo's anger rose to the surface again. His father had all that power… and he still let mother die at the hands of that filthy Hollow…

"_And here are some lovely roses for my Masaki-chan…_"

Wait a second… he saw how much his dad loved his mom every day before that tragic rainy day in June. If he had the power… he would have done something. Did he lose his powers like Rukia did?

_**Who cares about that shit?! Cut him down now!!**_

Ichigo forced himself to take a few steps back.

_**What the fuck are you doing?!**_

_I can't do this… I don't know what happened for sure at the time but I know that he would have given his life for her if he had the chance. Besides… if she were seeing this now, she would be heart broken…_

_**But she isn't!! She will never know!!**_

_What right do I have to decide which timeline is better than the other…? Yuzu and Karin won't be there at all… but Aizen will still be seeking to sit in Heaven… and everyone else would suffer…_

His left arm immediately shot up to grip the edge of the Hollow mask.

_**Dammit!! Let go, you idiot!! You're going to let this trash live?!?**_

_If I kill him here and now, I won't be able to get any answers when I get back!_

He began to pull hard on the mask in an attempt to rip it off while the other voice's tone had a pinch of desperation in it.

_**LET GO!!! Can't you see how close we are to fulfilling what you've always wanted?! Drive that sword through that bastard's chest!!**_

_Shut up!!_

_**Use a cero!! Anything… just finish him off already!!!**_

_KNOW YOUR PLACE, HORSE!!!_

With that final thought and a loud cry, Ichigo ripped the mask off of his face and felt his body explode in pain as the white colour from his coat and the grey colour from his zanpakuto exploded into residual spirit particles, leaving only black behind. His body felt like it had gone through a 24 hour death match marathon with Zaraki Kenpachi.

He stabbed his sword into the ground and used it as a crutch to stabilize himself while he breathed heavily. He had to get enough strength back to get out of here quickly. No doubt that someone would have picked up the sharp flux of spirit power when he forced Isshin to deactivate the Moon Shadow world.

"…… family man, huh?"

Ichigo took huge gulps of air to try and recover his energy. "…… yeah…"

"What did you look up to me as? A brother? An uncle?"

"………"

"Or a father?" The youth looked up to the older man who had a contemplative look in his eyes. "That last one would make a lot of sense, would it? The things you said about the way you saw Kurosaki Isshin… it was as if you looked up to him as a father, right?"

"You can say that…" It wasn't as if Isshin thought he was really going to be his biological father, right?

The older man relaxed a bit as the anxiety that he felt from Agent Strawberry's threat died down. "Heh… I feel strangely honoured. Someone like you looking up to me as a father… you really don't have much of a father figure in the realm of the Royal family, right?"

That seriously came out of nowhere. "…… what the hell are you talking about?!"

"It's okay! Here, I'll even let you hug your pseudo-papa!! COME INTO MY EMBRACE, STRAWBERRY!!!" For a guy who had been whooped badly, his voice regained enough energy to perfectly emulate the Kurosaki Isshin that the younger Shinigami remembered. And that was unbelievably disturbing.

"HELL NO!!"

"Once we get better from our injuries, how about we go on a father-son Hollow hunting bonding trip?"

Rather than shouting his head off at the Tenth Division Captain again, Ichigo merely smiled fondly. "Heh… I suppose I'm glad you're acting this way. Even here, I can still rely on you to act like a total dumbass and ruin a serious moment."

"Are you implying that I'm a dumbass?!" Isshin had gotten into 'angry-papa' mode, just like the younger Kurosaki remembered when he was late for dinner.

"I'm not implying you're a dumbass… I'm saying that you ARE a dumbass!!" It was at that point that he noticed something was wrong…

The six swords that were part of Isshin's bankai that formed the Moon Shadow world… 'Where did they go?!' He turned around to see the six blades, lined up in two single file lines slowly dragging their way towards him.

"Oi, what the hell are you doing?!"

Isshin managed to get up to look his adversary in the eye. "Aha!! You've done well to discover my super sneak attack but it will do you no good since you've let your guard down! Although I can't comment on how many traits I share with your version of Isshin, I can agree on the fact that I don't like to lose as much as him! I have my pride as the Tenth Division Captain to think about after all!"

"That's it! I'm coming over there to beat your sorry ass!!" Ichigo started hobbling towards the other Shinigami as fast as he could.

"Hahaha!! Do your worst!!"

And that was how Kyoraku Shunsui found the two a mere moment later when he flash stepped into the area. Agent Strawberry had his fist buried in Isshin's right cheek while one of his swords had whacked itself against the young man's orange hair. As both Shinigami fell backwards on to the ground, the Eighth Division Captain had to admit that was the weirdest end to a duel he had ever witnessed.

He reached into his kimono to grab his communicator. "This is Eighth Division Captain Kyoraku Shunsui to all units. Mission complete. The target has been subdued."

"_Roger that. We will rendez-vous at your location and prepare the senkaimon shortly._"

With a heavy sigh, he placed the device back into his clothing before approaching the unconscious youth with orange hair. He bore an unbelievable resemblance to that prodigy who's currently serving as the Thirteenth Division's Vice-Captain…

'Wait a second… could he really be Agent Strawberry? He certainly might have the talent to pull it off…' After pondering about it, Shunsui banished the thought. Not even a guy like Shiba Kaien could unleash the raw amount of reiatsu he felt a while back. And speaking of that raw reiatsu, he was bothered by how much higher it felt than Isshin's own reiatsu after the captain had released his limit and used bankai.

He knelt down and noted the sword that was firmly in the youth's grip. 'A long black nodachi… is that his bankai? Very unusual…' He turned around when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps and some heavy breathing. "Senna-chan? What are you doing here?"

"That guy's dog found us and started barking really loud until someone finally came by the area and picked up the kid to get to the hospital." She paused when she saw the unconscious orange haired Shinigami. "Is that…?"

He nodded. "The Infamous Agent Strawberry. You can help carry him back through the gate while I fetch Isshin."

'Oh my God… he looks so much like Kaien!! But that coat of his really makes him look cool and fits nicely against that upper body of his! That orange hair makes him stand out… like a crazy punk!! Whoever is out there… thank you!' Had Shunsui seen the animated look in his subordinate's eyes, he would probably have felt sorry for Ichigo. Senna had been one of the more active members of Shiba Kaien's fan club while he was working towards his vice-captain position in the Thirteenth Division. Of course, when the man recently got married to Miyako, one of the lower seated members of the division, fan club activity died down. In fact, there was supposed to be one last meeting before the club formally dissolved. Now, it looks like that the club meeting agenda would shift from talk of formal dissolution to talk of the man who will take their place as their new idol.

Senna was well aware that the gossip mill was something to be reckoned with and knew she won't be able to keep this little secret to herself for long. Her best course of action would be to try and convince the others that she would be the best to act as the club's 'representative' when speaking to the youth. It wasn't going to be easy however. Matsumoto Rangiku isn't one who is easily fooled and neither is Ise Nanao.

As she grunted while she lifted the youth's frame up on her shoulders, a small black cat leapt away from where it had been secretly observing the fight between both Shinigami and made its way back into the park's forest area. It continued to run until it saw the injured boy with glasses and a man with a cane, an ugly green fedora and trench coat, brown dress pants and dress shoes. "He's in their grasp, Kisuke." The dog started running up to the cat and was about to bark when it got a scare by being the recipient of the cat's glare. It started whining and went back to its injured master.

The man finished inspecting the wounded Quincy before slinging the boy's body over his shoulder. "Well, you saw for yourself how free spirited he is. I wonder how long it'll be until he becomes too much for Soul Society to handle. Can you go on ahead and ask Tessai to get the medicinal herbs ready?"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Ichigo found himself looking at a clear blue sky as soon as he drove his fist into Isshin's cheek and immediately recognized where he was. "**That was a good job of getting your ass handed to you… you idiotic King.**"

When he heard the voice of his Hollow, his hand went instinctively towards Zangetsu's hilt just over his right shoulder and grabbed nothing but air. He looked behind him to see that the sword wasn't even strapped on his back. "The hell?"

"**Over here.**"

It took him a moment to find out where the voice was coming from and was surprised to see his zanpakuto hovering inches above the surface of one of the many skyscrapers in his inner world with his Hollow mask facing him. "What… is this?"

"**This is the result of you being a total dumbass and ripping off the mask when our powers weren't ready to desynchronize!**"

It was strange seeing his zanpakuto shake angrily as the Hollow screeched its displeasure at him. "So you aren't trying to take over my soul?"

"**You made it pretty clear who's the King and who's the Horse for the moment. And right now I'm in no shape to try and take over your soul. Maybe later…**"

Ichigo took a few steps forward to look his Hollow mask square in the eye. "Now I want an explanation on why you sounded so desperate to kill him."

"**You're a smart guy, Ichigo. You figure it out. I'll give you a big fucking clue… look right in front of you and tell me what you see…**"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

A huge sigh came from the other voice. "**I knew you were slow but this is ridiculous… remember when I told you that I am Zangetsu?**"

"What's that got to do with anything?!" He was about ready to strangle his sword for acting like a cryptic bastard.

"**Clean out your ears and listen carefully because I'm only saying this once, dumbass. Zanpakuto are a Shinigami's partner in battle and are sentient beings who share a particular aspect with their wielder. Like a dream, a goal, a desire or a personality trait. Take for example… the red pineapple head and **_**Zabimaru**_**. Both of them are pretty cocky fighters who are confident in their own abilities to win. Then there's the aristocratic bastard and **_**Senbonzakura**_**. Both are graceful… and deadly. Now… why don't you think about what particular trait you and I share?**"

Ichigo closed his eyes and started focusing on what possible traits he may share with his own sword. Then… a particularly recent memory hit him.

_**She was willing to sacrifice her being to protect her children. What kind of son would we be if we aren't willing to return the favour?**_

An image of her face flashed before his eyes. "We share the desire to protect the one person that I couldn't save…"

"**Dear old mom…**"

He looked at the Hollow mask as he spoke again. "But what was the point in trying to kill him?! Even if she never met him… what's to prevent her from being eaten by Grand Fisher or some other Hollow?! I still don't get your reasoning!!"

"**Hollows are driven by instinct… for me, it meant killing without hesitation. Combine that with the shared need to protect between you and your zanpakuto and what do you get?**"

The pieces of the puzzle came together for Ichigo. "…… so that's it. The only way you knew how to protect someone was to kill whoever threatened them. You saw that man as someone who had power to attract those who would threaten her. You saw him as an indirect threat. And you couldn't just wait around for Grand Fisher or some other Hollow since you don't have the patience for that…"

"**Give the man a fucking prize…**" That was the last thing he heard before he felt himself leaving his inner world.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

When Ichigo woke up, he felt himself lying on a bed in a dimly lit room. He also became aware of several things:

1. His zanpakuto and the device in which he used to travel through time were no longer in his possession.

2. And neither were his Shinigami robes. In fact, all he was wearing was a _fundoshi_, the loincloth normally worn during _Hadaka Matsuri_.

3. His entire body felt very relaxed. He could see that there were a few white patches all over his skin.

4. His legs were seriously getting a hell of a massage.

He lefted his head to see that there was a woman wearing a standard Shinigami captain's uniform with a long braid sitting by his legs. Her hands were glowing, an indication that she was applying some healing kido, while she continued to rub and massage the youth's legs. She then noticed that said youth was looking right at her in confusion and smiled. "Good morning."

"Morning? How long was I out?"

She paused for a moment to remember when he had been passed into her care before continuing her work. "I believe it was 14 hours from when you were picked up and taken to the Fourth Division's General Relief Station."

Ichigo merely laid his head back on his pillow. "Thank you, Doctor…?" He trailed off when he couldn't quite recall her name, even though he knew that he had seen her once while staying in Soul Society in the aftermath of Aizen's betrayal.

"Fourth Division Captain, Unohana Retsu. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Agent Strawberry."

He gave a small groan. "Just call me Ichigo… and can you tell me what have you done to my body?"

"Very well, Ichigo-san. When you had arrived in my care, I was rather shocked at the amount of damage that your muscles had taken. It was as if you applied some sort of extreme stimulant to force the muscles to give you more speed and power during your last battle against Kurosaki-taichou before suddenly yanking away the stimulant, sending them in some sort of withdrawal. The patches on your body are relaxants to help your body relax while I used some healing kido and some massage therapy to start rebuilding your muscles. I have already completed the other areas on your body."

"Really? Thanks…"

"I'm unsure of what type of stimulant you applied to your muscles but for your own sake, you mustn't do that again! After all, it would be a shame if something permanently damaged your nicely developed muscles," said Unohana while she continued working.

Those last few words rang in the youth's mind. 'Did… she just hit on me?'

She then noticed the strange look her patient was giving her and blushed slightly when she remembered her last statement. "Oh my! Perhaps I should have rephrased that better!"

"So… why are you guys going outta your way to treat me? Even though I defeated that other captain of yours… how is he by the way?"

"He's recovering well even with the amount of injuries he had from the battle. And as for why you're being treated, it's simply my job. As a doctor, I will do everything in my power to help one who is injured."

He sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. Uh… not to sound ungrateful or anything but I would have thought that I would be in jail or something for not coming along with you guys."

"There was quite a debate on what to do with you. Kurotsuchi-taichou really wanted you in his laboratory for study. Soifon-taichou and a few others believe that you are a threat and should be locked in the Shrine of Penitence as a precaution. Baishin-taichou was interested in getting you to be the Eleventh Division's zanjutsu trainer so they could better fulfill their role as a combat division specialist. Right now, all of that doesn't matter since your body isn't in any condition for you to do much of anything besides talk. And Yamamoto-soutaichou is very interested in getting some information out of you. He should be sending a representative to conduct a private interview with you shortly." The glow from her hands vanished and she gave a soft exhale.

"Thanks for everything," mumbled Ichigo.

Unohana merely smiled again. "You're welcome. Now you take it easy, young man."

"Unohana-taichou? How is he?" Ichigo froze when he heard that polite male voice speak from outside the room.

She got up from her stool and opened the door to allow her visitor in. "He's awake now. Would you like to start the interview?"

"If you don't mind."

'Shit…' He tried moving his arm or his leg but found that they weren't ready to respond to the signals that his brain was sending to them.

"Very well. I shall leave you two alone but if you require any assistance, my office is just next door. Now if you excuse me, I need to review the photos taken for this patient's medical file." After receiving a polite 'thank you' from the visitor, the female captain gracefully stepped out of the room and gently closed the door behind her.

'Shit!'

He heard the scraping of the stool as it was brought closer to his upper body. His eyes traveled upwards and saw a man dressed in the standard Shinigami uniform and a white haori. What stood out to him the most were four things…

The messy brown hair…

The simple square framed glasses…

The green hilt of the man's zanpakuto…

And finally, that false smile…

"Allow me to introduce myself… Fifth Division Captain, Aizen Sousuke. On behalf of the Gotei 13, I would like to ask you a few questions. I assure you that anything you say will not leave this room so please feel free to tell me whatever is on your mind…"

'SHIT!!!'

**Chapter 8 Preview!**

"Ah! Kurosaki-kun is in danger!! We have to save him, Ishida-kun!"

"But what can we do? It's not like we can go back in time ourselves, Inoue."

"Oh!! If only we can go back to the past!!"

"_That can be arranged._"

"Who are you?"

"_They call me the dea-diddly-evil!_"

**We interrupt this preview to bring you this disclaimer: The Devil Flanders is the intellectual property of Fox Television. Thank you and enjoy the rest of this preview.**

"_Anyways, I have here a very easy device that will allow you to travel back through time! All you have to do is sign here and the device is yours!_"

"…… it's a toaster."

"_That just makes it very easy to use! Just pop some bread in, press the button and voila!_"

"Ooh……"

"I think we'll pass, Devil-san… let's go, Inoue."

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

Ichigo glared at the Hollow mask in front of him. "Didn't you ever stop to think for a second that if we killed Isshin, we would cease to exist?!"

"**Bah! You're pathetic!! I can't believe that you subscribe to the stupid gaijin theory of time travel! You're thinking too linear like that dumb movie you saw… **_**Back to the Future**_**, was it?**"

That kinda came out of nowhere. "Wait a second… I'm thinking linear? So what are you thinking?"

"**Once an event occurs, there is no way to prevent it. Even if you tried going back to the past to prevent that event, all you would do is create an alternate timeline where that event never happened in the first place. The original timeline where that event occurred would still exist! So if we killed Isshin here, the Ichigo in this timeline would not exist but since you're the Ichigo from another timeline… it wouldn't matter! That was what I was thinking!**"

"And what the hell type of dumb time travel theory is that anyway?"

"**Remember when Trunks tried to alter his devastated future in **_**Dragon Ball Z**_**? Even though he stopped Androids 17 and 18 from going on their rampage, his home timeline still didn't change! It was still the same devastating future as before! And let's not forget how surprised he was when he saw that there were three extra androids created by Dr. Gero! Androids 16, 19 and 20 and Trunks got all like… 'where the hell did they come from?' before… OI!! Where the hell are you going?!**"

"Back to the living world. And I hope that in our next meeting, you will be speaking normal Japanese instead of Otakunese."


	8. Ripples of Change

**Shunpo to the Future! – Ripples of Change**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

It was an exciting day for many of the first year students at the Central Spirit Technique Institute. Today, they would be allowed to take tours around each division of the Gotei 13 that protected the Court of Pure Souls since the majority of students would be serving under a division once they graduate from the six year program. Of course, they would probably be restricted to certain areas of the division to prevent sensitive information from being passed on to the pupils.

This event would take the entire school day. The entire first year group was to be divided into thirteen smaller sub groups with one group being assigned to one division to start off the day. After a thirty minute tour, they would move on to the next division. So the day would turn out to be a full eight hour day, with six and a half hours to tours, a thirty minute lunch break and a special student speech and ceremony to be given by one of the Captains that was planned for an hour.

Hinamori's group consisted of all the first years that had been picked up by Agent Strawberry on the Living World along with a number of other first years who will unlikely get a field exercise in the near future due to the Academy administration revising the field exercise guidelines. Their group started off with a tour of the Eighth Division and the captain, Kyoraku Shunsui, was eager to show them around. If anything, it beat paperwork.

Of course, to ensure that Shunsui would leave a proper first impression, the vice-captain took a few appropriate steps which led to the captain screeching the following statement: "You did what?!?"

The young male vice-captain merely restated his actions. "I ordered that all the saké in our division headquarters be stored elsewhere in a secret location. After all, you don't want any pupils sneaking off and returning to their tour group in a drunken state, do you?"

"Huh? Oh… right! Yeah, that would make sense. Um… carry on, Kensei."

The young man made a perfect about-face before strolling out of the hallway where the student group was to begin their tour of the Eighth Division. Shunsui sheepishly turned around to address the students. "Muguruma Kensei… my vice-captain. A bit of a formal stiff but he does a good job of things around here. Let's get started, shall we? Please feel free to fire any questions that you may have for me."

"I have a question, sir," piped up one of the male students. "What exactly is your division's specialty?"

Shunsui unlocked the security doors that led to the Eighth Division's administrative offices. "That's a very good question, young man. To be honest, in all the years that I've served as this division's captain, I still haven't figured out what would be most suited to us." Just as the doors opened and he stepped through, a small female carrying a small stack of papers bumped into him, causing a few sheets to drop.

"Sorry, sir!" She quickly bowed in apology before bending down to pick up the papers.

The older man raised a curious eyebrow. "What's the rush, Senna-chan?"

"Just a lot of work that I have to do so I'll be on my way!"

"Let me help." Hinamori approached the other woman to help pick up her papers and froze when she noticed the contents of a particular page. It was a written agenda for an upcoming meeting of Senna's. What caught the female student's eye was the header of the page which read _Agent Strawberry Fan Club Opening Meeting_ along with the date.

"Thanks!" chirped Senna cheerfully as she retrieved the papers from the other female before running off.

"You're welcome," replied Hinamori in a dull tone before she got up robotically and rejoined the group. For the remainder of the tour, the other students, including her close friends Renji and Kira, gave the small girl plenty of space since she seemed to radiate an aura which read 'Touch me and die'.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'ShitshitshitshitshitSHITSHITSHITSHIT!!!' It was honestly a miracle that Ichigo had been able to avoid squirming in his bed while his mind went on overdrive in terms of reacting to this worst case scenario.

"Now how about we get some information on you so to clear up any misconceptions that the others in the Gotei 13 may have about you? Please feel free to begin when you're ready," stated Aizen politely with that oh-so-fake smile.

The youth slowly began to breathe in deep to calm himself down. He has to be extremely careful of what he said in front of this man but honestly, what can he say? If he refuses to say anything, the others could interpret it as a sign of refusal to cooperate and resort to other methods to get some solid answers. And whatever he says now could have severe consequences down the road.

He will need to stall for time… and badly. "Well… when I was growing up, there was a powerful warrior that I idolized. A hero of justice, one may say."

The other man took mental notes of what the youth said. "Justice, you say? This idol of yours probably would have gotten along with Tousen-kun. Please go on."

Ichigo paused to carefully consider his words. "He wasn't exactly an extreme powerhouse like the man with the huge club but he was resourceful. And he had a very special power… it's hard to describe. It was as if he could create perfect replicas of weapons with his mind as long as he understood every aspect of the weapon's physical properties like composition, weight and so on."

Before Aizen could clarify what the youth had said, the door to the room was kicked in and a crazed Kurotsuchi Mayuri (with some odd device hanging from where his right ear would be) got right in Ichigo's face. "What's the name of this magnificent specimen you describe? The one with this mysterious power? I must get him into my lab!! Oh… and I won't forget you, of course. You too are worthy of my time…"

"You were eavesdropping, Kurotsuchi-taichou?" asked Aizen in an irritated tone.

"AAARRRRGGGHHH!!! THE SCARY CLOWN HAS COME TO EAT ME!!! GET ME OUTTA HERE!!"

Ichigo's 'terrified' screams immediately brought in the Fourth Division Captain. "My goodness!! What are you doing in here?"

Mayuri started sweating at the glare that Unohana was giving him. "Er… I just wanted to try out this new device. I call it the 'Mr. Listen' and-"

"I'm sorry but I must ask the both of you to leave while I calm the patient down. Aizen-taichou, you will have to come back another time."

The other man began to protest. "But…"

"_**Now**__."_ She stepped forward and practically dragged both men outside. Before they could try and get back in, she slammed the door right in front of their faces. Mayuri could only offer a weak chuckle and apology under Aizen's rather intimidating glare.

"It's okay, Ichigo-san… the scary clown is gone…" While she stayed by the youth's side, he was mentally congratulating himself for a damn fine acting job and for sending Aizen on a wild goose chase for a character that doesn't exist in this universe. Who knew that watching _Fate Stay/Night_ would pay off?

**OOOOOOOOOO**

It was nearly lunch time when Hinamori's group arrived at the last part of the tour of the Eleventh Division. They were taken to a large outside field where many Eleventh Division subordinates were undergoing zanjutsu drills. "This is pretty much the pride and joy of our Division Headquarters! What do you guys think?!" boasted the tour guide, who happened to be a Nineteenth Seat.

"It's… large," commented Lisa in a dry tone.

Just before the tour guide could continue showing off the field, there was a large commotion that came from one of the inside dojos. Soon, the tour group were greeted to a sight of a screaming Shinigami flying out a window and slamming into a group of four that were training together. "OOF!!"

"Where did that come from?!" exclaimed Kira.

"Oi! You okay?!" It was at that moment that another Shinigami, this time clothed in a captain's white haori along with the standard uniform, leapt out of the window to check on his subordinate. He was a well built man who had long grey hair and a grey beard. The one feature that caught Hinamori's eye was the familiar cleaver he wielded in his right hand while the brown hilt of his normal zanpakuto could be seen on his left side.

"Wait a second… doesn't that sword belong to-" Before Renji could finish his thought, Hinamori went over to the tour guide.

"Can we ask some questions to your captain?"

The guide scratched his head. "I'll check but I think he's busy right now. Uh… Baishin-taichou?"

He looked over and noticed the tour group. "Hm? Oh, right! They're doing that student thing today! What's up?"

"They have a few questions that they would like to ask."

The larger man jogged over to them. "I have a lunch meeting that I would rather not be late for so I will only answer one question."

It was Hinamori who spoke up for the group. "I was wondering if you can tell us about that tall, hilt-less and guard-less sword in your right hand and what are you doing with it. Is it a new type of sealed zanpakuto?"

"Actually, this isn't a sealed zanpakuto at all. As far as I can tell, this is a constantly active initial release. I must say that I am curious about the skills of the one who had this sword. Kyoraku's report implied that the wielder of this blade fought Kurosaki Isshin, a man who is practically impossible to beat by pure zanjutsu, to a standstill! Just how did he do it? This sword's balance is all wrong compared to a normal zanpakuto! I was surprised that I was able to fight at a decent level with this blade just a minute ago! If only Unohana-taichou would let us see that Strawberry guy…"

"A constantly active shikai? Unbelievable!" exclaimed one of the students.

"Store this in Locker Room 4 for now. I gotta run…" Baishin handed the sword over to one of his subordinates before taking off to get to his meeting.

"And that concludes the tour of our humble division. If you would all follow me and I will show you to the exit," said the tour guide as he reasserted control.

While the group followed the guide, Hinamori leaned in close to Lisa. "What division are we visiting next?"

The other girl pushed up her replacement glasses. "If I recall our schedule, I think we should be heading to Fourth Division after lunch…"

"In that case, we need to think of a plan to get to Ichigo-dono. Kira-kun, Abarai-kun… I'll need your help as well," said the female student in a no-nonsense tone.

"…… eh?"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"I really wish you would reconsider what you're doing… your body probably isn't ready yet!" Ichigo, now dressed in a normal hospital gown, slowly brought his arms up and grasped the rails in front of him before getting out of the wheelchair.

"Sorry but I have something important to do. I can't wait around to recover, Unohana-san." His entire body ached when he started walking down the small twenty foot runway used in physical recuperation but he ignored it.

Even though she could see the patient struggling a little, it looked like that he had things under his control for the most part. 'Unbelievable… I've never seen such a rate of muscle regeneration like this! At this rate… he would probably be back on his feet at the end of today!' The two female nurses that had accompanied the patient were also astonished at the iron will of the man known as Strawberry.

About halfway through the runway, Ichigo let go of the rails and continued walking slowly, eliciting a gasp from one of the nurses. 'Just a bit more. Come on!' He was pretty annoyed at how things turned out with his body in such a weakened position. That feeling of weakness was something he hadn't felt in a long time.

Just as he reached the end, his legs finally gave out. Luckily, Unohana was there at the end to catch him. "You did very well, Ichigo-san," said the female captain in a soft tone.

He took a few moments to catch his breath before speaking again. "One more time… let me go back one more time…"

"…… very well. But only one more time. Then it's back to your room for lunch and some rest, ok?" Honestly, she didn't really have a solid reason as to why she was allowing her patient to push himself when he should clearly be resting. It was probably the amount of resolve in his eyes when he firmly stated that he had something important to do.

"Sure… if I can ask for another favour. If it's possible, I would like to speak with Kurosaki Isshin alone…"

"I'll see what I can do. Isshin-san should be in better condition to talk."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

It was about half past noon when Ichigo received a certain visitor who kicked the door open.

"STRAWBERRY!! Do not fear!! Your pseudo-papa is here!!" It was Kurosaki Isshin in all of his bandaged glory. His entire top half, except for some parts on his arms, was wrapped with bandages along with his legs. Unfortunately, his head wasn't wrapped as well so Isshin could be as loud as he wanted.

"Dammit!! Will you keep it down?! And close the door!!" The older man slammed the door shut so that the two could talk alone.

"So what is it you wanted to talk about? Is it about the birds and the bees? Because if it is, I can probably help a bit but you'll have to talk to Unohana-san about-" Isshin got interrupted when Ichigo got up from his bed and punched him in the cheek. For a guy who was undergoing therapy to regain full use of his muscles, he hit pretty hard.

"It's not about that!! How about you stop being a dumbass for once?!" shouted the orange haired youth.

"Then spit it out already!"

"……I need your help."

The serious tone in Ichigo's voice caused Isshin's serious side to surface. "Go on."

"I have something urgent that I need to do. I can't tell you what it is but I assure you that I don't have any malicious intentions for Soul Society or the flow of souls between here and the Living World."

"Is it… about your mission from the Royal Family?"

Ichigo seriously wondered where the other man got that idea of him being from the Royal Family of Soul Society but maintained his composure. "You can say that. There was an accident that derailed my mission and I needed to search for someone in the Living World who could get me back on track."

"Urahara Kisuke, I presume?"

"You know him?!"

Isshin exhaled softly. "I doubt there isn't any person in _Seireitei_ who doesn't know about him. The former captain of the Twelfth Division… and one of the brightest minds in all of existence who got exiled from Soul Society… so what do you need anyway?"

"I have to get out of here and to the Living World. I need to get my zanpakuto back along with that crushed… thing I was carrying earlier. Do you have any idea where they would be?"

"Hmmmm… I'm betting the crushed object would be studied in the labs of the Twelfth Division. Perhaps the same with your zanpakuto-" He was cut off when the door opened and two female Academy students slipped through before closing the door again.

"Actually, I saw Ichigo-dono's zanpakuto being tested by Baishin, the Eleventh Division captain," reported Hinamori. "Our tour group just went through the Eleventh Division's compound. Lisa can help draw a map of where the sword is being stored, right?"

The other girl didn't respond as her sight was glued to Ichigo's backside. More specifically, the slightly open part of the hospital gown where she could see part of the young man's exposed buttocks. 'Oh my…'

"Lisa?"

"Huh? Oh… right. I just need some paper, a brush and some ink." While she looked around the supply cabinet in the room, Ichigo took the time to speak up again.

"How about the Twelfth Division compound? There's something in there that I need to retrieve."

"We didn't get to see much there since we weren't allowed to enter the labs," replied the young girl.

"Wait a second… you two are first years doing that Gotei 13 tour event? How were you able to slip away from your tour group?" asked a puzzled Isshin.

"Let's just say Abarai-kun and Kira-kun had an 'accidental' tumble into the anaesthetic storage room…"

"_WHEEE!!! I'm flying, Abarai-kun!!_"

"_Halt in the name of the Red Anana! Hahaha, I said Pineapple in that fancy French language!_"

"… and our tour guide is trying to subdue them gently."

Ichigo noticed there was something off when Hinamori said 'accidental' but decided not to mention the point. Lisa had gotten her supplies and was in the middle of drawing her rough map of the compound. "I think I'll need a map of the underground water tunnel system too. It's probably the only way for me to get around here without any trouble."

"You know about that too? You must have one hell of an intelligence network, Strawberry!" exclaimed Isshin. The youth merely ignored the other man's exclamation.

A few moments later, Lisa handed him her map of the compound plus a map of the underground water tunnel system (complete with access points for each major area) that had been part of a Fourth Division unit's medic bag stored in the cabinet. Ichigo smiled at the young lady. "Thanks for everything."

She merely looked at him with a healthy blush on her face before fainting. Isshin laughed out loud. "You really do have good rep among the ladies, ne?"

"Shut up, old man. But before I go… I just want to thank you for trusting me."

A solemn look was in the older man's eyes. "When I crossed swords with you, you made your intentions clear with your blows. I don't have any reason to believe that you are a liar."

Ichigo merely smiled at Isshin before turning to Hinamori. "Take care of yourself, Hinamori-san."

"You too…" The young man opened the door and checked his surroundings before making a run for the access tile in the Fourth Division compound.

A few moments after Ichigo had vanished, Isshin examined the other young woman. "So your name is Hinamori, ne?"

"Uh… yes?" There was something unsettling about the way the older man looked at her.

"Hmmmm… then it's settled! I think I want to make you the fiancée for that foolish pseudo-son of mine! Lord knows he could use a good wife!! And of course, I will be expecting lots and lots of pseudo-grandchildren too! How about it? You interested or what?"

It didn't take too long for Hinamori to join Lisa on the floor in blissful unconsciousness.

**Chapter 9 Preview**

"Oh… if only I had more scenes with Ichigo-san…"

"You have had your fair share of the spotlight, Unohana-taichou. Now it is my turn."

"I do not know, Nemu-san. I believe that the readers would enjoy my gentle serene attitude more than your melancholic personality."

"That is merely your opinion."

"Well, I suppose the fact that you're up next is sufficient enough to get the readers excited."

"True. Especially the fact that my opening scene with Ichigo-sama will have me nude."

"WHAT?!?"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

"Let's check if Ichigo-dono is in here," whispered Hinamori.

Lisa nodded before carefully opening the door. Inside was a simple and clean office with a desk, a chair, organized papers and two seats to accommodate visitors. There was a medical file on top of the desk with some papers and pictures. "He's not… wait a minute…" Before Hinamori realized it, the other girl had slipped inside.

She gave a tiny squeak before slipping in as well and closing the door. "What are you doing?!"

"…… t-this is…" Some blood started to escape Lisa's left nostril.

"Eh?" Hinamori then looked down to see a number of pictures of her idol wearing nothing but a loincloth. It wasn't too long until she got a minor nosebleed of her own. Lisa moved her hands toward the pictures to get a better look…

_**WHHOOOOOPPPP!!!**_

A siren started wailing as soon as she touched the picture. "Let's get outta here!!"

The two female students bailed the office just in time to see Unohana Retsu on one end of the hallway with her hand around a leash that was tied to a miniature version of _Minazuki_. "Ara ara… you really shouldn't have wandered off…" She released the leash and the small green one-eyed manta ray flew towards the petrified young girls.

"Crap!! Run!!"


	9. The Melancholy of Agent Strawberry

**Shunpo to the Future! – The Melancholy of Agent Strawberry**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

The dripping in the tunnel was driving Ichigo nuts.

Not to mention how clammy and damp it is down here. Coming down here in nothing but a hospital gown and a loincloth is definitely not a good idea. He had wanted to try and see if there were spare _shihakusho _in the Fourth Division or perhaps if they had washed his own robes but as luck would have it…

"Prepare yourself to face the wrath of the Red Anana!! YAHOOI!!!"

With Renji's crazy, high pitched voice not too far from his position, the youth knew that if he didn't get to the access point now, he would probably be caught by the Captain and sent right back to bed. It took him longer than he had liked to pry the tile open and close it behind him but at least now, he could get on the move.

So two hours later, here he is… cold, irritated, lost and mentally rambling like a loon…

'I really would like to place the blame on Sandal-Hat for ultimately creating the device which got me into this mess but then again, it wasn't as if he knew that I would travel back through time just by applying my reiatsu to his invention. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have given it to me.

Yeah, right. If he entrusted something like the _Hogyoku_ to be hidden inside Rukia, then I'm sure he probably would have given it to me anyway…

As for another candidate I would like to blame, I would probably point to Yoruichi in terms of bringing me some bad karma. Normal people wouldn't believe in paranormal things like ghosts, aliens, time travel and luck. I used to be one of those normal people… except I could believe in ghosts since I saw them. When I got into the whole Shinigami mess, I should have figured that it wouldn't be so far fetched to believe in other things when I started seeing more strange shit like a talking cat.

A talking black cat… Lord knows how many years of bad luck I've already accumulated by hanging with a talking black cat. At this rate, I'll probably have to get Chad, Inoue or Ishida to help me out with 'undoing'-

Geez, there I go again with a ramble that makes absolutely no sense. Thank you very much for passing on that gene of stupidity, dad.

Speaking of my old man, how many times did he force me to watch that gaijin movie trilogy _Back to the Future_ with that horrible dub track? I must have lost count at four. And how can I forget the advice he gave me just when I started my first day of high school?

"_Now son, if you ever travel back in time, you must minimize traces of your presence. Even the slightest change in the past can have eerie and unforeseen effects in the fu-OWWWW!!!_"

I think you can put it together even though I interrupted that advice back then with a punch to the head.

Honestly, I thought he was being his usual dumbass self but maybe he actually figured it out somewhere down the road that Agent Strawberry is his future son and tried giving me that advice for my own good. I hate to admit it but he can have his smart moments at times.

Hanatarou wasn't kidding when he said this underground maze is something only Shinigami from Fourth Division could really understand. Even though I have a freaking map, I still got lost pretty often. I wasn't sure how long I spent down there by myself but it must have been at least three hours.

God, I'm going to kill the bastard who designed this map. How the hell can anyone navigate through this system with this poor excuse for a drawing?!

I'm pretty sure that I'm still pouring out a large amount of spirit power. I'm surprised that I haven't been caught yet since I'm pretty sure that this maze has a lot of Fourth Division members down here. But then again, it may be my absurd spirit power that's preventing a direct confrontation. Hanatarou did tell me that Fourth Division Shinigami are really weak so they're probably avoiding me. At least that's something in my favour. I wonder how long it'll last though…'

"I think I feel something this way. Let's go!"

The statement that echoed throughout the underwater system snapped Ichigo out of his thoughts. 'So much for my luck…' He was close to a small gap in the wall which served as an access point so he pressed his body against the ladder rungs and quickly consulted his map as to which access point this is. The map told him that he was still a pretty good distance away from where he wanted to be.

"Hey!! Don't get too far ahead of me, you… ARGH!! Where did you go?!"

From that last statement and the rapid footsteps that were getting louder, Ichigo reasoned that the group had gotten separated when someone started racing ahead. At least that was something in his favour. As soon as the person passed by his hiding spot, he acted.

"HEEEYAAAHHH!!!!"

His loud scream was good enough to scare the lights out of the guy and take him out quickly. Ichigo was surprised at how easily he went down after one punch but since the guy belonged to Fourth Division, he shouldn't be surprised. He had the standard uniform, a Fourth Division medic pack, a zanpakuto and a weird looking helmet that covered his entire hair along with an eye mask. It almost reminded him of Char Aznable.

It only took a few minutes to change into the uniform but the helmet wouldn't really fit with his skull so all he could salvage from the headgear was the mask. 'Man… this stinks. At least my feet are warm again.' He wiggled his toes in his new socks to enjoy the feeling of warmth before he headed to the next access point.

He didn't get very far until he heard a booming voice address him. "Hey, you!"

Ichigo looked around to see a big Shinigami with a creepy hairdo approach him. In addition to his uniform, he wore a bead bracelet on his left wrist and a large bead necklace. "I told you not to get too far ahead of me and… did you lose your helmet?"

"Uh… yeah. Got a little clumsy and it fell in the water." He was going to need to pretend to be a weak Fourth Division Shinigami at least for a little while since he wasn't sure if his body had recovered enough to easily take down this giant as he did the masked man.

"You really are a hopeless case. Let's get back to tracking that spirit pressure I sensed earlier."

"Yeah… sure…" The smaller Shinigami turned around and started heading in the direction where he was going anyway.

As they started to walk, the large man spoke up again. "You know, I think I can understand why you wear that helmet. Your hairstyle and colour are hideous."

Ichigo's eyes twitched beneath his mask. "Look who's talking, dumbass," muttered the youth under his breath.

"You say something?"

"Nothing!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The larger man had been speaking for over twenty minutes straight causing Ichigo to zone out while he pretended to know where he was going.

"I think I'm getting close to finding out the name of my zanpakuto. I've been having dreams lately where a crow would get up close to my head and peck me on the forehead a few times before flying off, leaving a whole bunch of feathers behind that turn into shuriken as soon as they land on the ground."

'For your information Mr. Kamaitachi-in-training, nobody cares about you getting pecked by a dumb crow. Unless it pecks your vocal chords out… then everyone would be a little more cheerful.' The youth slightly smiled at that thought.

"If only I can communicate with the crow. I think it has a clue as to who is the spirit in my sword. Strangely enough, when I tried asking the crow about that, it merely pooped on my face before flying off."

'God… enough already!!' Ichigo was beginning to understand why the previous owner of these robes went ahead of this larger man. He had an excuse to run ahead and get away from the continuous chatter that this large bozo continued to spew out.

The larger man moved in closer to whisper near the masked youth. "You won't tell anyone about that whole crow poop thing, will you? It's pretty embarrassing."

"I won't say anything." 'Since you're doing a splendid job by yourself already.'

"Ah! That's a relief. You know, I was thinking about trying to come up with something unique for when I go into battle. Something that will intimidate the enemy and cause them to tremble in front of the name of Ikkanzaka Jiroubou! But I honestly couldn't come up with anything! My patience is wearing thin on this matter!"

That was when Ichigo paused in his movements. "With all due respect, do you mind keeping quiet down here? Otherwise, I might get us lost and we would have to go and report to our superiors that we regretfully let the enemy escape."

"Regret… hey, that's a good one!! Now I can see it… whenever I face an opponent, I will give them some time to regret to their heart's content at facing me in battle!! I like the way it rolls off of my tongue. REGRET!!"

"…… excuse me, Jiroubou-san? I have some advice that will do you a world of good. Just come a little closer so I can whisper it in your ear." The youth turned around and had a funny little smile on his face.

Jiroubou leaned in a bit closer. "Speak, friend! I know that these next words of yours will be truly inspiring like last time!"

Just as he was within reach, Ichigo grabbed the larger man's head and rammed it against the tunnel wall before bringing it back to yell a word in his ear.

"KNOW…"

_**SLAM!**_

"… WHEN…"

_**SLAM!**_

"… TO…"

_**SLAM!**_

"… SHUT…"

_**SLAM!**_

"… THE…"

_**SLAM!**_

"… FUCK…"

_**SLAM!**_

"… UP!!!!!"

_**SLAM!**_

That final slam was enough to knock the giant out as his body slumped against the wall while Ichigo panted heavily to catch his breath. He couldn't stay around for too long since he was pretty certain those sounds of violence would echo throughout the system and attract more Shinigami.

He then spotted another gap in the tunnel wall that had ladder rungs. At this point, he didn't care where that access point would lead to as long as it got him out of this crazy tunnel system so he made his way over to the gap and climbed up as fast as he could. It didn't take him too long to get out of the system and back into fresh air.

Right now, he was in a large open dojo that had a large Gotei 13 symbol on the North wall along with the kanji for 'Eleven' in the middle. 'Yes!'

It was at that moment that the dojo door was kicked open. Several rowdy Eleventh Division members had entered the area to do some training and noticed the stranger in the middle of the room with a Fourth Division medic pack. "Well, well… what do we have here, boys? Is there something we can help you with?"

"I just gotta get something from Storage Locker Room Four and then I'll be on my way," replied Ichigo in a cool tone.

"I see… but the thing is we can't simply let ya go. You broke your way in and it'll look bad fer us if we simply let this slide since we were supposed to be watching this place so we hafta smack you around. It's nothing personal but we gotta keep face and all…"

"Is that so? Do as you like but I warn you…" The youth got in a loose karate stance.

"…… I'm really having a crappy day and you guys just volunteered to be my punching bags."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Ichigo had to admit that last brawl back in that dojo on the Eleventh Division Compound brought back a lot of memories. Nothing particularly good or bad but just a lot of memories of some of the fights he got into when he was younger. Like beating up those hoodlums who desecrated that ghost's memorial or the gang who targeted Chad back in their middle school days.

It took him a few minutes to find the room where his sword was being held. As soon as he strapped his zanpakuto to his back, he started feeling a bit like his old self again. 'Welcome home, old man.' He may as well leave that other guy's zanpakuto and medic pack here and keep the mask.

A quick peek through the window of the storage room to the outside told him that there were more grunts outside about to come in after doing some outdoor exercises. The thought of traveling on the outside didn't appeal to him too well since he didn't want to go through having to run all over Soul Society being chased by goons again. And they're smart enough to tell that the sword strapped on his back is no Ultimate Shinigami Iron Chef Knife. So it's back to the tunnels for him…

'Next stop is the Twelfth Division to pick up the item,' noted Ichigo as he consulted his map again before he started running to the direction of the next access point where the Twelfth Division compound should be. He didn't run into any other Shinigami during his trip and was able to climb the ladder rungs safely before popping up the access tile.

He couldn't see anything at all at first and had to take off his mask and stash it in his borrowed robes to make sure that he could see clearly. There were a few blinking lights in the room that implied some electronic gadgets along with some dimly lit monitors. 'I'm probably pretty close by.' He threw the movable tile ahead of him so he could fully climb out of the hole and get a better look around the room.

'Crap… it's so dark around here!' He took a few steps to see if he could find a light switch when his feet tripped over the tile he had tossed earlier.

"SSSHHHHIIIITTT!!!!" Ichigo flailed around in an attempt to grab on to something, accidentally pushing a few buttons on some consoles and crashing into other pieces of delicate equipment. When he came to his senses a few moments later, he had a sinking feeling that things weren't looking too good for him.

He got up as quickly as he could and started to mutter a few curses under his breath. "Geez… just where the hell are the bloody lights to this place?"

Just as he asked that, his vision was flooded with bright light as the room suddenly became illuminated. He shut his eyes on reflex while his right arm went straight to his sword's hilt. "What the hell's going on?!"

"I have turned on the lights as you have requested," replied a female voice in a quiet tone.

It took a moment for his eyes to get used to the light before they turned to the person who just spoke. "Just who are- GAAACCCKK!!!"

A beautiful young naked woman stood only a few feet away in front of him in a rather demure position. She had long violet hair, green eyes and probably the healthiest bosom that Ichigo had seen in his life. He forced himself to avert his eyes from her bared breasts but soon, they drifted downwards towards her pubic hair-free nether regions which were barely covered by her hands being in a clasped position. "Please state your designation."

"K-Kurosaki Ichigo…" He had no idea why he merely stammered out his name like that but it was probably due to the fact that his rational side was in the middle of fighting his repressed hormones who pretty much said '**HEEELLLLLLO NURSE!!**' upon seeing the nude woman, therefore not allowing him to thoroughly think about what he should do in this situation.

There was a slight flash in the woman's green eyes before she spoke again. "Imprinting procedure complete. Artificial construct Kurotsuchi Nemu… at your command, Kurosaki Ichigo-sama."

"…… at my command?" The previously mentioned repressed hormones began howling in glee at the thought of all the possibilities that lay out before him.

"Affirmative."

"Then how about putting on some clothes?! Please!" Ichigo backed off to put some space between him and his new 'servant' when he hit a panel on the wall that a section of the wall behind him to open, which in turn caused him to tumble on the ground of the lab that he had just entered.

It was also at that moment when one of the division scientists entered the lab with his security card and closed the door behind him before he noticed the gap in the wall. "Wait a second. Where the heck did that come from?" Last time he checked, a bookcase filled with scientific manuals occupied that spot.

He also noticed that there were two occupants in the laboratory that he hadn't seen before. One looked like a normal Shinigami with a big sword but his focus quickly switched to the beautiful naked woman. As he had never seen a live nude female body before in his sixty years of life and seventy years as a spirit, it was reasonable to see why he simply stared and drooled at the fine specimen in front of him.

That moment of 'zoning out' as one may call it would cost him as Ichigo quickly got back on his feet and knocked the scientist out with a single punch. He took the security card since it would prove to be useful to sneak around the Division. "Oi, Nemu! Take this guy's clothes and get dressed, will ya?!"

There was a moment of awkward silence as she simply stood there doing nothing. This prompted the youth to wonder if there was something wrong with her. "…… why are you just standing there?"

"I have not been programmed on how to appropriately place attire on myself."

Translation: She has no idea how to get dressed.

Now Ichigo was familiar on how to help others get dressed. He did it a few times as a kid for Karin and Yuzu when his mom was busy trying to get things ready for a special family outing. But to help a fully grown, healthy woman get dressed was another matter entirely. That would mean his hands would be in pretty damn close proximity to her body…

"Just what the hell have you been programmed with?!"

"My creator, Kurotsuchi Mayuri-sama, has programmed me with a layout of the Twelfth Division compound, standard laboratory practices and rules along with up-to-date knowledge on physics, chemistry and ecto-biology."

'Talk about wacky priorities… wait a second! If she knows the layout of the compound, perhaps she could be of some help in finding the device…' After giving it some thought, Ichigo decided to take advantage of the assistance that his new personal servant was offering and grumbled to himself about having to make sacrifices as he disrobed the unconscious scientist on the ground and beckoned Nemu over so that he could dress her himself.

**Chapter 10 Preview**

"This sucks! How much longer is it gonna be until we get our turn in the story?!"

"Can you be a little more quiet, Grimmjow? Some of us are trying to sleep here!"

"You should not be sleeping so much, Stark. We must be alert and vigilant for Aizen-sama's sake."

"I really wish you wouldn't be such a boy scout, Ulquiorra. Let's just get this preview thing over with."

"There is not much to say, Halibel. The next chapter merely focuses on trash characters. Why the author does not write about Aizen-sama is beyond my comprehension. I must conclude that the author of this story is trash as well."

"Oi, you probably should be careful of what you say."

"…… aren't you supposed to be dead, Luppi?"

"In canon, you did indeed kill me Grimmjow… but the author here has brought me back for a guest appearance just for this preview. That reminds me… Strangle, _Trepadora_!!"

"Hahahaha!! If ya wanna play, that's fine by me!! Grind, _Pantera!!_"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

"Just what the hell have you been programmed with?!"

"My creator, Kurotsuchi Mayuri-sama, has programmed me with a layout of the Twelfth Division compound, standard laboratory practices and rules along with up-to-date knowledge on physics, chemistry and ecto-biology. I also possess up-to-date knowledge of methods of seduction and sexual pleasure in the scenario that I must seduce a target in order to obtain knowledge for Mayuri-sama's benefit. Would you like me to demonstrate?"

"Er… I'll pass." As soon as Ichigo voiced his refusal to allow Nemu to show her prowess, he could have sworn he heard a million male voices shout in frustration along with phrases like 'WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?' and 'ARE YOU GAY OR SOMETHING?!?'.

At the same time, he felt like he heard a million female voices scream in joy and say phrases like 'I KNEW IT ALL ALONG!!' and 'WE HAVE TO START WRITING A FIC WITH HIM, RENJI AND BYAKUYA IN A THREESOME!!!'. That last phrase caused him to shiver uncomfortably.

"……… on second thought…"


	10. Shaken or Stirred?

**Shunpo to the Future! – Shaken or Stirred?**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

The hallways in the restricted laboratory section of the Twelfth Division compound were very much deserted as Kurosaki Ichigo and Kurotsuchi Nemu, now fully dressed with a black hakama, socks, sandals and a lab coat covering her black kimono, made their way down to where the written records were stored. Each individual researcher in the Research Institute kept their own daily logs of their work and their experiments before they are passed on to the official record clerk to be filed away.

Ichigo was a bit unnerved at how easily he and Nemu were walking around. "Damn, it's quiet around here. Is this normal? What about security?"

"The laboratory section of the compound is restricted to members of the Twelfth Division who have Level 3 clearance or higher. There are also strong anti-intrusion measures in place to prevent unauthorized entities from entering the section," replied the young woman.

'They probably haven't extended those measures to the underground tunnel system yet. Lucky break for me, I guess.' As soon as they reached one of the doors on the right side of the hallway, Nemu used the security pass to unlock the door and let the two of them in.

The room was fairly large and well lit with hundreds and hundreds of binders along the many bookcases that were in the room. There were also a few desks and chairs for people to sit down if they wanted to go through the logs for that day. "Christ… there must be thousands of binders here!!"

"There are approximately one hundred and eighty two thousand, two hundred and forty eight binders with each binder representing one day's worth of log entries that each Research Institute member had made for that day."

Ichigo sighed in relief. Now that he had a better idea of how the system worked, finding a log entry for the device would be far easier. "In that case, we only need to go through the log entries for yesterday, right?"

Nemu walked up to one of the bookcases and took a binder in her hands that represented the log entries for the previous day. "What are you looking for precisely?"

"Uh… let's see… I don't really have a technical name for it. But they wouldn't know either and would associate the name with mine. Look for any entry that has the words 'Agent Strawberry' in it." With the order registered in her mind, the woman opened up the binder and began skimming through the pages at an extremely fast pace which would put the fastest human reader to shame.

It took her ten minutes to complete her search. "There is no record for anything pertaining to the search terms that you have defined, Ichigo-sama."

He swore under his breath before he started thinking again. "I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. Stuff like that would probably be classified and not put out on display in a place like this. The only way to get some solid answers would be to go to the man in charge of the Research Institution himself. Where is he anyway?"

She noted the date on the binder that she held in her hands and came to the appropriate conclusions. "I believe that Mayuri-sama is engaging in promotional activities for this division to the first-year Academy students so that they may consider applying here when they graduate after their program. This is not surprising, considering how many unseated officers need to be replaced each year."

A frown appeared on Ichigo's face. "…… so he needs more guinea pigs?"

"That is a rather narrow description. I believe the correct description would be foot soldiers and potential test subjects. I can sense that he is a man who simply sees everything as a subject to be researched. In any case, he will be occupied for another two hours."

The youth gave a sigh. "Maybe that'll give me enough time to get back to full strength so I can force him into helping me." He briefly glanced at his right arm and tested it a bit to see how much he had recovered.

That was when Nemu got up from her seat and got close to the male before placing one of her hands inside his black kimono against his bare skin. Before the blushing teenager could protest, her hand glowed briefly as she used some of her reiatsu. "You are still recovering from a strong case of myalgia."

"Well, I really pushed myself in my last battle," explained Ichigo briefly.

She removed her hand from his chest. "That would explain it. I can synthesize some medicine that can accelerate your recovery and strengthen your body so that it can handle higher amounts of stress."

This caught Ichigo's attention. "Really? How long would that take?"

"We have access to the laboratory that the former owner of this security pass was supposed to use. Assuming the proper equipment and materials are available, the medicine should be ready within an hour and a half."

"That sounds good. Let's get to it."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

The work to synthesize the medicine was going smoothly as Nemu took measurements for her materials while the liquid in one of the beakers boiled from the heat that the Bunsen burner was emitting. Ichigo tried to help out where he could since he had decent science grades but all he did at most was simply hand her materials to help her synthesize whatever it is that she's making.

It had been quiet for the past eighty five minutes and this gave the youth time to really review his current situation with the young woman working in front of him. She seemed so mechanical. Almost like a doll or something. "Nemu?"

"Yes?" She quickly re-checked the formula that she had jotted down before adding a red liquid into her mixture.

"What did you mean when you said you are an Artificial Construct?"

"I am the result of Mayuri-sama's research in _gigai_ and _gikongan_. My purpose was originally to assume the vice-captain position of the Twelfth Division when I am fully ready since Mayuri-sama has constantly expressed dissatisfaction with the previous vice-captains that had served under him. Now my purpose is to attend to your every need, Ichigo-sama."

He frowned slightly. "It's only because I activated you back in that secret lab, right? It's not like you had a choice in the matter…"

"Is it something that bothers you?"

The teenager got off from the stool he had been sitting on. "Well… yeah! I really can't explain it too well though!! It's like… you can't make any choices!"

She took off the beaker from the Bunsen burner and put in a new one with additional chemicals inside that needed brief heating. "I am capable of choosing, Ichigo-sama. I chose the most efficient Bunsen burner in terms of heat output to fuel consumption, did I not?"

He wanted to rip out the orange hair from his head but he refrained from doing so. "There are simple choices like that and deep choices that can affect the rest of your life! Dammit… how do I say this? I want to help you develop that ability to make those important choices about yourself, about your feelings, about your beliefs and about your life so you can say you have no regrets in the future."

"My future has already been decided. I will stay by your side as long as you need me."

"That won't be possible. If things go well, I will be heading to a place where you should not follow. But before I go, I want to get you started on how to truly decide what is right for yourself and what you believe in. For example, if you see that Mayuri guy try to abuse his authority on his men and it bothers you, do something about it."

A slight look of curiosity was in the girl's green eyes. "Like what?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know… maybe kick him in the nuts or something? The point is that if you do go through with kicking him, it'll be a choice that you made according to your feelings. And that's a sign of someone truly living. You're a sentient being and you have the right to be free in your choices. Or something like that… I forgot how that truck robot said it but it sounded cool."

Nemu took out a fresh beaker and poured the contents of the two beakers together to finish the creation of the medicine. "Shaken or stirred?"

"…… what?"

"Would you like your medicine shaken or stirred? There is no effect on the overall result but there may be a slight variation in taste depending on whether this is shaken or stirred."

Somewhere in Jamaica, a 49 year old man, who had just read an article on the US President's list of favourite books, sneezed.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

Kurotsuchi Mayuri was in a rather neutral mood. On the poor side, his recruitment drive didn't seem to go so well as a lot of students were rather disturbed by his sales pitch while on the positive side, his request for an increase in the Research Institute's budget was recently approved by Yamamoto.

He had some time before the official 'inspirational' speech was to be given by the Fifth Division Captain at the Academy grounds in front of the entire student body and the seated officers of the Gotei 13 so he may as well check in on his greatest project to date. As he entered the hallways of the laboratory section, he saw something peculiar in the corner of his left eye. 'What was that?'

He turned his head to see the person make a right turn into a corridor and his eyes widened as he recognized the facial features of his creation. 'Nemu?!' The Second President of the Research Institution rushed down to where he had seen her vanish and easily spotted her walking ahead of him. Four strides later, he grabbed the girl's left shoulder tightly. "Who activated you?!"

It was then he felt another presence drop in behind him and felt the edge of a sword against the back of his neck. "Let her go, clown."

"…… Agent Strawberry, I presume?" Mayuri released his grip on his daughter's shoulder.

"Here is how this is going to work. You tell me what I want to know and I'll let you keep your head. Heck, I'll even ask Nemu to seriously consider taking up the vice-captain position in your division. By the way, if I see any part of your body twitch in a way that bothers me, you die. Now… where's the device? And when I say device, I mean the one that was on my person before I woke up in _Seireitei_," said Ichigo softly.

"Before I assist you, I need to confirm something. It was you who activated Nemu, correct?"

"Yeah… and I trashed a bit of equipment in the lab so you won't be replacing her in the near future, will you? After all, if you start your work from scratch again, people will continue to whisper that you are still stuck in Urahara's shadow."

Mayuri growled once before snorting. "Thank you for your confirmation. Now follow me."

The trio moved down the hallway until they reached an ordinary door that had a keypad along with the standard security pass scanner. Mayuri took out his pass and punched in the code to unlock the door to his personal laboratory. Other than more space and some advanced equipment, it didn't seem that much different than the other labs. In fact, it was more cluttered with beakers filled with various liquids all over the place. "This is the correct location, Ichigo-sama," reported Nemu.

"Out of curiosity, what is your device supposed to do?" asked the Twelfth Division Captain as he slowly walked towards a workbench that had something resting on it.

"That's none of your business…" Ichigo trailed off when he noticed what had happened to the device.

"…… why the hell does it look like a Volkswagen Beetle?"

"Because it is a pleasant piece of engineering to look at," replied Mayuri before he twisted his head around fully to stare straight at Ichigo and surprise the youth with a sneak attack by blasting some gas out of his mouth.

"Shit!!" He coughed several times as he was forced to leap back. He could feel the effect of the gas taking hold as his left arm started feeling numb. As soon as he looked up, he noticed that the Twelfth Division Captain had crossed his eyes as he very much felt Nemu's leg impacting against his crotch.

A twisted head and a lot of pain between the legs… it won't be a very pleasant awakening for Kurotsuchi Mayuri. The last thought he had before he blacked out was that from now on, he would wear his zanpakuto in front of his crotch to act as a pseudo-shield.

"T-thanks for the save," wheezed Ichigo as he felt the rest of his body start to go numb. Nemu quickly placed a hand on his forehead before going over to the stand of beakers and taking one in particular.

"Drink this. This liquid should counteract the effects of Mayuri-sama's poison." The young man opened his mouth to allow Nemu to pour the antidote in before swallowing.

"GEEZ!! What the hell is this crap?! It tastes like piss!!" At least he could move his body again normally. He took the device lying on the workbench and felt the familiar kido enchantment that Urahara had used as the item's core.

"My apologies for the poor taste."

"It's not your fault… ugh… at least I got this thing back." He placed the item inside his kimono and looked at Nemu who merely nodded in understanding.

"Good luck, Ichigo-sama. Please take care of yourself."

"Thanks. Just remember what I said about choices, ok?" With that said, he rushed off back to the underground tunnel system's access point in the secret lab where Nemu had been created. There was no way he was going to exit through the Division compound since the last thing he needed was a mob from Twelfth Division chasing him as the perfect research specimen.

Now that he retrieved both his zanpakuto and the device, the next step was to get out of Soul Society and back to the Living World so he could get Urahara to look at Mayuri's handiwork and fix it so that he could go back to his own timeframe. He didn't want to risk using the device and ending up in the age of the dinosaurs or something. That means he would need a portal but who could set him up with a way to get home?

It was also at that moment that he realized how strangely the current events of his life paralleled a spy movie's plot. A secret agent trying to stay undercover while finding a way back to his homeland… getting captured by the enemy and having some of the people he met in this time frame assist him in escaping and retrieving his items so he could go back home to complete his mission.

At this rate, he would probably need to put his life on the line to stop some sort of evil diabolical plan set up by the ultimate enemy.

'Yeah… like that will happen.' At this point, Aizen shouldn't be making any major moves yet. He chuckled softly to himself as he walked to an access point which should lead to the Tenth Division. A chat with his old man in this timeframe should be enough to get the portal he needed to return to the living world.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

There were many rounds of applause and cheering as the Fifth Division Captain stepped up to the podium where the microphones were set up. For some reason, this loud noise bothered Kira and Renji who were in the crowd. Their heads were still spinning from the nap that they had taken during the Fourth Division tour after lunch. "Just what the hell did happen back there?" mumbled the redhead with a groan.

Hinamori merely chuckled nervously. "Uh… you guys just had a klutz attack near the anaesthetic storage room. That's all!! Hehehehe…"

Both young men merely glared at her but chose not to say anything to conserve their energy. That was when the speech began. "This truly is a momentous occasion for everybody. The officers of the Gotei 13 were able to take a sneak peek at the next generation of Shinigami while the students were able to get an idea of how each division operates."

'That Aizen's a rather charismatic speaker,' noted Lisa to herself.

"Before I go on, I would like to share with everyone a concern of mine that I have recently noticed. Throughout the history of the Gotei 13, we have never truly been united as one group, even though we all share the goal of looking after the flow of souls between Soul Society and the living world. Politics, power struggles and secrets… these are the things that are hurting us as a group and the three barriers we must tear down in order to truly function in harmony. I share this concern because I would like you, the students of the Central Spirit Technique Institute, to be the first ones to attack these barriers and bring us closer to unity."

There were murmurs all around with Aizen's strange speech and even a few of the senior officers were baffled at this. Only Aizen's vice-captain, Ichimaru Gin, had no visible reaction on his face with his weasel smile perfectly intact.

"My fellow officers of the Gotei 13, I understand that this is a big step and a big change to consider. After all, we have gotten this far without needing to share intimate details about division operations to each other but this is something that we should consider to prepare for the worst case scenario. It would be rude of me to expect everybody to be able to spill out this type of sensitive information so I propose that we start with small things."

"Like what?" asked Soifon.

Aizen merely smiled at her. "Like demonstrating and explaining the unique power of our zanpakuto. In the spirit of the occasion, I would like to ask that all other Fifth Division seated officers who are capable of their initial release come to the podium to demonstrate their power to the audience. I would also like to ask all audience members to pay close attention. This is something you do not want to miss."

**Chapter 11 Preview**

"The seeds that will sprout chaos into Soul Society are about to be planted…"

"It appears that the Wheel of Fortune will continue to turn…"

"Can our hero Kurosaki Ichigo cut the chains of fate that bind the Gotei 13 to this destiny?"

"TIME OUT!! Since when is Ichigo our hero? He may be your hero but he certainly ain't mine!"

"What is with the bitterness, Arisawa-san?"

"The fact that I have no page presence in the latest chapters of the manga, Sado-kun!"

"Well, you are still developing your power with Urahara-san, right?"

"Knowing my luck, it'll be something that works in sync with Keigo and Mizuiro that will be totally lame. I better get an interesting role in this fic, dammit!!"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

Kurotsuchi Mayuri gave a groan as he came to. "Argh… that accursed Agent Strawberry! I'll have my revenge yet!" He then noticed that he was strapped to an examination table and could feel Nemu's stitching on the back of his head.

"Ah… I see you're awake, Clown-sama."

The Twelfth Division Captain mentally added another reason why to kill Agent Strawberry. Then he noticed the peculiar sensation on the back of his head. "…… what are you doing?"

"I have completed installing a device in your cerebral cortex. This device will allow me to create the stimulus of solid matter in motion striking your penis."

"What?!? Why?!"

Nemu ceased her stitching of her creator's head. "Considering your service record as the Twelfth Division's Captain and your attitude towards your subordinates, this is a necessary course of action in order for you to comply with the suggested guidelines for a Division Captain's behaviour as set out by Yamamoto-soutaichou."

"I have more important things to do than to read that pathetic excuse of……AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!"

"Shall we begin?"


	11. Cut the Chain of Fate, Zangetsu!

**Shunpo to the Future! – Cut the Chain of Fate, **_**Zangetsu!**_

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo. Chapter title courtesy of _The Azure Moon_, a Bleach story written by James D. Fawkes

'So this request would be charged against SCOA code 231.2098.5505.0000.23489 and will be deducted from the equipment budget. Wait a second… CRAP!!' As soon as the woman realized her error, she merely sighed before crumpling up the page and getting a replacement one. She really hated having to work with brushes and inks since one simple mistake in the way data and kanji were presented and written could result in an entire misinterpretation of the form.

It's no wonder that Kurosaki-taichou isn't very fond of paperwork. Although there are processes to be followed in order to keep the Gotei 13 running smoothly, some of this stuff seems to be very redundant. Add in the fact that she's also doing Matsumoto's share of the work (due to a lapse in judgement by betting against her friend in a saké drinking contest) and you have one very tired and irritated Ise Nanao.

She took off her glasses to rub her weary eyes with her right knuckle and decided to go get some tea from the Division pantry. Considering how much work she had put in for the past four hours, she needed a break. Just as she got up and left the small office, a tile popped up and the orange-haired head of Kurosaki Ichigo peeked in to scan his surroundings. 'Am I in the right place?'

"How silly of me… I forgot the tea set." It was at that moment that Nanao noticed the tile with the youth's head popping through.

'CRAP!!' He thought about going back down but noticed the stacks of paperwork (and the large pile of crumpled papers) and how tired the young woman seemed. With a little luck, he just may be able to pull this off.

"You're having a very strange dream right now. You have fallen asleep after several hours of doing paperwork."

"……I have?" Nanao reached up to take off her glasses to rub her eyes when Ichigo stopped her.

"Don't rub your eyes! Otherwise, the dream will fade away and you will never see this handsome face again!" At that last sentence, he mentally started kicking himself. '…… I can't believe I said something so stupid!!'

What surprised him even more was how easily she changed her mind. "Hmmmm… well, you do look like Kaien-san. Ah, if only he didn't go get married…"

He was slightly disturbed at the strange glitter that emerged in her eyes as she softly pined for that other man. It was better to switch conversation topics. "…… so you dream about paperwork?"

This snapped her out of her daze. "Eh? Uh… not really. It's just that because of the big ceremonial speech that's being given by Aizen-taichou, all of the seated officers had to attend while the unseated officers have to continue to help run things in each division. That's why it's pretty quiet around here."

At the mention of the ceremonial speech being given by Aizen, Ichigo was barely able to suppress a gasp. 'Could it be… that ceremony that she had mentioned?'

"_COME OUT AND FIGHT ME, ICHIGO!!!"_

"_Icchy's this way, Ken-chan!"_

_As Zaraki Kenpachi continued to run around the Court of Pure Souls to find the ryoka that had defeated him, Ichigo slightly shivered at how close he had been to fighting that crazy man again as he poked his head out of the bar that he had taken refuge in. "Thank goodness for that kid's crappy sense of direction."_

"_Oh my… what brings you here, Kurosaki-san?"_

_It was then that he noticed the woman with silver-purple hair and the Fourth Division vice-captain badge attached to her uniform. She was in the middle of enjoying a fruit cocktail. "Did I interrupt you? Sorry about that… and sorry about knocking you out back there at… man, this is kinda awkward."_

_Kotetsu Isane merely giggled slightly. "It's alright. I admit that I was a bit relieved when you stopped the Sokyoku."_

"_That flaming turkey thing, right?"_

"…… _that's one way of putting it. To think how we were all so easily used…" She picked a cherry from her treat and bit into it. _

_Ichigo frowned as thoughts of that man who easily stopped Tensa Zangetsu with a finger rose up. "That Aizen guy… just how the hell did he pull the wool over your eyes like that?"_

"_I think it was during some ceremonial speech to the Central Spirit Technique Institute where he was advocating how the barriers between divisions should be lowered. As a gesture of goodwill, he had each seated officer of his Division demonstrate and explain the power of their individual zanpakuto. And that was how he ensnared us with Kyoka Suigetsu…"_

"When is he giving the speech?!"

"I believe he's doing it right at this mo-" That was when Nanao got a scare as the stranger threw the tile in front of her, got out of the hole and ran out of the office, scattering papers all over. That was also when she realized that this was not a dream and now she had a big mess to clean up.

So much for Agent Strawberry's first impression on her.

"AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"Geez… what is that woman thinking, handing me something like this? You owe me one, Kiyoura-sempai…" Kurumadani Zennosuke continued grumbling to himself while he carried a fairly large box. He wasn't sure what's going on but by the serious tone in his sempai's voice, he went along with it anyway. There was also a note which had some strange cryptic instructions. It went along the lines of…

'_When you see an orange haired Shinigami phase into view by the entrance of the Tenth Division Compound, please give him this package and tell him that it came from an 'acquaintance' who shares a mutual concern regarding the ceremony.'_

He made his way to the entrance of the Tenth Division Compound and just as the note said, a Shinigami with orange hair came into view. That youth looked like he was in a hurry so he needed to distract him a bit. "GOOD MORNING!!!"

This caused Ichigo to stop for a moment. "What the hell? It's the afternoon, you dumbass!!" He was about to take off when a box was thrust into his hands.

"This comes from an acquaintance who shares a mutual concern regarding the ceremony." With the package delivered, Zennosuke made a mad dash away from the orange haired Shinigami.

'Someone who shares a mutual concern regarding the ceremony? Who could it be?' Ichigo knew he was running against the clock but decided to examine the contents of the box when he was in a more secluded hiding spot. Someone went through the trouble of using that afro dude as a messenger so he may as well take the time to look at what he has. He used a chain of flash steps to move himself from the Tenth Division Compound entrance to another area that pretty much looked the same but seemed deserted.

"Where should I go?" He heard some chatter between some women coming from one direction so he opted to go to the opposite direction. By luck, the door was already open and the room inside seemed like a small meeting room with a separate section that had a small mini-kitchen and bathroom. Since nobody was using the bathroom, he locked himself in and opened the box to find a long black coat which had a hood, a pair of black gloves and a pair of black mini-boots.

That uniform seriously reminded him of that game that a lot of his school mates were going nuts about last winter… or was it the winter before? All he could remember is that the game is a time consuming RPG and he had no time for that.

There was also a note that came attached to the package…

'_Kurosaki Ichigo,_

_If you are reading this, that means that in mere moments, Aizen Sousuke will release his zanpakuto and place his spell over the students of the Academy and the seated officers of the Gotei 13. It also means that you are planning to interrupt the ceremony and have accepted the consequences of altering the future as you know it._

_I'm the last person to dictate whether that is the right course of action or not since I feel that this ceremony must not take place. However, I'm not in a position to be able to lend any true assistance to you other than this package. With this outfit, this will help to conceal your identity so that you don't run into additional obstacles when you go to Soul Society to rescue her._

_Do not panic as there is still some time since he will have his other seated officers release their own zanpakuto first. You must quickly change into this outfit (and don't start thinking about how weird it is to be dressing in something like this) before you head to the ceremony. It is being held at the Academy which is near the South Gate of Seireitei._

_Good luck,_

_'_

He couldn't read the signature of the person who signed this note. It seemed to be signed in that English alphabet that he was studying back in school. He quickly folded up the note so he could go over it later when he had more time and got into the outfit. After strapping his sword onto his back, he placed the hood over his head, exited the bathroom and dashed out of the building past a startled group of females.

One of them, a woman with orange hair and some exposed cleavage, broke the silence that had settled upon them after he had raced his way through. "…… just who was that guy, Senna?"

The smaller female shrugged. "I'm not sure, Rangiku-san. We should report this later when everyone gets back from that ceremony. By the way, where is Nanao-san? I thought she would be coming to this meeting!"

Rangiku had a mischievous smile on her face. "Let's just say she's learning that nobody out drinks Matsumoto Rangiku the hard way."

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"Now please allow me to introduce my vice-captain… and the occasional thorn in my side… Ichimaru Gin!"

There was laughter from Aizen's inserted joke as Ichimaru took the podium. "Honestly, Aizen-taichou… have I ever been anythin' but helpful to you?" Once the laughter died down, the Fifth Division Vice-Captain drew out his zanpakuto and raised the tip in the air.

"Since Aizen-taichou's a fond believer of lettin' actions speak louder than words… Shoot to kill, _Shinsou_!" The blade glowed briefly before extending at a high speed to the sky. While the students were in awe of this feat, Ichimaru continued to speak.

"When _Shinsou_ does its thing, whoever gets ta be the sad guy on the other end, let's jest say it ain't gonna be pretty. This thing does pretty well against a whole buncha guys as well…" After making a few swings with his extended sword in the air, he resealed his zanpakuto back into its wakizashi form and sheathed it. As expected, the students gave a round of polite applause after Ichimaru finished his demonstration.

Aizen stepped back on to the podium. "That was nicely done, Ichimaru-fukutaichou. I'm afraid that my zanpakuto isn't as equal in that type of destructive power that you've shown the student body but it can just as easily neutralize multiple opponents like yours can."

"How so?"

The Fifth Division Captain merely smiled. "I will demonstrate… Ito-san! Kanroji-san! Please come forth and draw your weapons as if I were an enemy." Two of his seated officers stepped up on the stage but had hesitant looks on their faces.

Ichimaru stepped behind them and placed a skinny arm over the shoulders of the two Shinigami. "Don't worry yer heads off. It ain't like ya're really gonna be able to hurt Aizen-taichou and he ain't gonna hurt ya as well. Right?"

"Perhaps an explanation is in order. The power of my zanpakuto can confuse enemies using reflections off of fog and water currents and is a water-element zanpakuto. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have that much of a fog or a water current on me to truly demonstrate this power…"

"I got one!" Ichimaru proceeded to pull out a canteen of water from his uniform and poured the contents on the stage in front of his captain. "See! I'm being a real helpful guy, Aizen-taichou!"

"I suppose you are helpful sometimes, Gin," said Aizen in a completely deadpan tone before smiling. The comical act that both captain and vice-captain were pulling off had the students in laughter. Both Ito and Kanroji proceeded to draw their blades as soon as they saw their captain draw his own zanpakuto. When they saw their commanding officer nod, they started their charge.

"Shatter…"

"INCOMING!!" The shout from the Third Division Captain caused Aizen to stop his release as a black energy discharge headed towards him.

'A black moon fang?!' He dodged out of the way while the discharge destroyed a good chunk of the stage and created chaos as the officers who were on at the time tried to scatter.

Ichimaru had a rough idea of where exactly that discharge came from, even if they couldn't see exactly who fired it. He drew his zanpakuto again and leapt in the air before aiming it at the First Division compound which was located just north of the school. "Shoot to kill, _Shinsou_!"

The blade extended past the startled audience and right into a part of the First Division compound, causing a figure wearing nothing but black and wielding a long black nodachi to retreat backwards in the air. Ichimaru's grin widened as he swung the extended blade towards the figure in black……

…… only to be unable to move as the figure blocked his blade with his left index finger.

His grin dropped as the figure quickly firmly placed a grip on the end of _Shinsou_ and with a mighty swing of his nodachi, severed a portion of the end of the extended blade from the main body. 'Impossible!!'

The figure immediately dropped the portion of the blade that was still in his left hand and started making a retreat. Before the other captains could mount a pursuit, a banging noise was heard throughout all of _Seireitei_ along with a male voice. "Emergency Alert! Emergency Alert! Intruders in the Court of Pure Souls! All Divisions, please take defensive positions! Repeat! Emergency Alert! Emergency Alert! Intruders in the Court of Pure Souls! All Divisions, please take defensive positions!"

It was at that moment that a member of the Covert Ops phased into view and knelt down in front of his commanding officer. "Report."

"Someone has infiltrated _Seireitei_ by defeating the North Gatekeeper, Danzomaru! Destination has not been determined! The only information available is that there are two intruders: a man over six and a half feet tall and a girl with pink hair!"

'Useless!' A scowl nearly made its way to Soifon's face but she kept it in check as she glanced at Yamamoto for orders.

"All Divisions, proceed to internal defence positions immediately. Soifon-taichou, I'll leave the pursuit of the attacker to you and the Covert Ops." As soon as the words left the old man's mouth, Soifon immediately flash stepped in the direction of where the figure was last seen and stretched her senses to focus on that foreign spirit force.

Her senses were able to pick up two foreign and large spirit forces after a few moments of sifting through the familiar spirit forces of the other Shinigami. One of them was far out in the North but it wasn't as large as the other one which constantly kept moving faster than she could follow. Her one advantage is that it didn't seem to know the layout of _Seireitei_ as well as she did. With some luck, she could catch up and steer it towards a trap.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

'Did I lose them?' Ichigo took a moment to stop and check his surroundings. There seemed to be no sign of pursuit yet so he could try and figure out an escape plan.

His best bet would be to head to one of those Gates, kick the Guardian's ass and spend some time in the _Rukongai_ before sneaking quietly back into _Seireitei_ to ask his old man to help him travel back to the Living World. It would be tough sneaking past the tight interior security (and as much as he wanted to force his way through, he figured that would come to bite him in the ass when his future self, who is ironically his past self, comes to rescue Rukia) but he should be able to make it.

And he also had to consider the modified device that he had in his possession. Although he could easily use it to escape from Soul Society, he would rather not take another trip through time if he could help it. It's bad enough that he could barely make sense of things in this time period.

Before he could ponder about it further, his senses alerted him to an incoming attack. He rolled to the side just as the wall behind him exploded from the impact of Soifon's fist. She had shed her standard Shinigami uniform for the uniform of the leader of the Covert Ops. "As I thought… you really are the real deal, Agent Strawberry." She held out her zanpakuto in her right hand.

"Sting all enemies to death, _Suzumebachi_!" As the sword transformed into a golden stinger that wrapped around the middle finger of her right hand, Ichigo took this time to make a break for it and used the extra speed that came along with his final release to escape to the Eastern Gate, only to see a large group of black clad soldiers waiting for him.

'Crap!!' The whole area was crawling with those guys and their purpose seemed only to prevent him from fully escaping. Before he could think about it further, Soifon phased in from behind and attempted to stab him with her stinger. He dodged to the side but the stinger stabbed right through his hood, missing his left ear by inches.

"Dammit, let go!!" He reached over his shoulder and tossed the Second Division Captain away from him, ripping off a part of his hood in the process. Considering how hot things were getting, he decided to take his chances and took out the device before holding it out.

"What is that?!" cried out one of the Executive Militia soldiers.

"Simple… this little device here is a powerful weapon. If anything happens to me, you can kiss _Seireitei _goodbye!" shouted Ichigo in his most menacing tone.

"Soifon-taicho! What do we do?!"

Before she could reply, Ichigo focused his spirit power in the device; using the same method that Ganju had shown him when creating the cannonball used to break into the Court of Pure Souls. This effect practically helped to make his bluff seem credible. The Volkswagen Beetle in his hands started glowing with power and generated huge gusts of wind around the youth.

"Stay back!!"

Now that he had some more space, it was time to make his move. Just as a gust of wind blew his hood backwards to reveal his face, he gave a smug smile towards the stunned petite woman. "See ya later… sucker!"

"YOU?!?" Her eyes widened in shock as Ichigo immediately flash stepped in her direction and disappeared without a trace.

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"AAAAARRRGGGGHHH!!!" He felt his body get warped as usual but it felt different from when he first used the device to go through time. Perhaps it's his body that's adjusted… or maybe it's because he has his final release out. In any case, that warped feeling continued until he crashed into a table, spilling cookies and milk everywhere and startling the seated guests. He continued to tumble until he finally landed on his stomach.

"Ichigo-san!"

He groggily raised his head to see a concerned Ishida Soken kneel down by him. "How were you able to escape?!"

"I-Ishida? What the hell?" It was then that he noticed another man standing over Soken. Although his clothing was different, there was no mistaking that smiling face.

"You took a bit longer than I expected, Kurosaki-san," said Urahara Kisuke in a cheerful tone. He then paused as looked around the small dining room.

"What are you looking for, Urahara-san?" asked Soken.

Before he could reply, Ichigo felt a squirming sensation underneath his body before it stopped. Moments later, a glow could be seen from beneath the youth and this caused Soken to step back while the former Twelfth Division Captain merely sighed. It didn't take too long for Ichigo to get another up close and personal encounter with the naked body of an adult female Shihouin Yoruichi. She gave a loud exhale. "WHOO!! It was getting hard to breathe under there…"

The orange haired youth started feeling the blood rush to his brain and his loins as he could practically feel every curve of her body underneath his. "I-I-I… uh… s-sorry!!"

Yoruichi got a good look at the nervous youth's face before smiling. "You know, you're pretty cute when you're all flustered."

**Chapter 12 Preview!**

"INJUSTICE!! She already had a moment like that way back in Soul Society before he fought Kuchiki-taichou at the Shrine of Penitence!!"

"Well, don't take it out on me, Hinamori-kun. It's the way things turned out."

"How can you just stay so calm like this, Rukia-san?!"

"Because in the end…"

"Yes?"

"… he will always be my snugglebunny!"

"I don't see any basis for that in this fanfic!!"

"That's because it's material that will be coming up for the sequel! Oh… and do you find it ironic that Mayuri was finally able to best Urahara in something? The original Urahara messed up when it came to making the device and sent Ichigo back in time instead! And now when Ichigo needs to travel through time, what he gets instead is the original flash step accelerator that Kisuke intended to make! Isn't that-"

"NOBODY CARES, RUKIA-SAN!!"

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

After spending more than half the day searching, they had finally found it.

"Hmmmm… so it's a sumo wrestler holding her name banner up… very nice," complimented Shiba Kaien as he knocked on the door to his sister's house.

His new wife, Shiba Miyako, wasn't so enthusiastic about the visit to her sister-in-law. As much as she liked the other woman, her taste in housing was so eccentric. 'We're about to enter that sad excuse for a house? I really don't want anyone seeing me go in there!'

The door of the house opened to reveal two large identical men with thin moustaches, dressed in the same outfit (a simple tunic, grey pants and a red hat) but with one man in yellow and the other in white. "Kaien-dono!! This is a surprise!"

The Thirteenth Division Vice-Captain smiled. "How's it going, Koganehiko? Shiroganehiko? Is Kuukaku in?"

"The mistress is accompanying Ganju-dono for today. As a kind-hearted big sister, she is helping him train his magic!"

It only took a split second for Kaien's imagination to come up with a plausible scenario…

"_AAAAUUUGGGHHH!!! HELP ME!!!_"

"_I'll teach you for getting that sand down my shirt!! Come here, you brat!!_"

'…… I'll pray for your safety, otouto.'

"Please wait for a moment while we clean up the house a bit! Let's go, Shiroganehiko!"

"Right, Koganehiko!!"

The two men left the door open while they rushed back in to do their cleaning. Kaien turned back to see his wife, who merely kept twitching at the statue that towered over the building. "So, what do you think?"

Before she could reply, a strange spark of lightning flashed to Kaien's right and a split second later, a figure with an orange head collided right into the Thirteenth Division Vice-Captain's head. Both men were essentially knocked out in front of Miyako.

'An enemy? Wait a minute…' She approached the orange haired man, who held a strange device and a black nodachi, to examine him further. 'Orange-haired Kaien…'

She looked back at her husband. 'Kaien…'

"………BOOKENDS!!" After she squealed happily, she displayed an uncharacteristic amount of strength by picking up both bodies of the men and raced inside the house to one of the large guest rooms before locking the door.

Needless to say, Kuukaku was in for some bad news when she got back to the house.

**Guest Omake: The Adventures of Agent Strawberry! (submitted by AJT) **

"All right ladies," Senna began the club meeting, tapping her gavel on the podium before her. "Today we will begin the meeting with an important announcement from our very own Hinamori Momo and Yadomaru Lisa!" 

Moving aside and clapping, Senna smiled at the blushing Hinamori and Yadomaru as they took their places behind the podium. None of the assembled women missed the small briefcase Lisa had handcuffed to her wrist.

"Good evening everyone! I am pleased to announce that Yadomaru-san and I have completed the first series of Agent Strawberry trading cards!" Hinamori said happily. Lisa held up the small suitcase, opening it with a dramatic flourish.

Rather than oohs and ahs as she expected, Hinamori was greeted by confused and disappointed murmurs. She turned and gasped at the empty suitcase.

"LISA! I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WERE SECURE!"

"I thought they were, I really did!" Lisa defended herself from the now very-scary looking Hinamori. She cowered as the normally timid girl advanced on her, sword in hand.

"THEN WHERE ARE THEY?! WHO COULD HAVE TAKEN THEM?!"

In her secluded office, Captain Unohana's giggling was interrupted by a sneeze. After a pause, the giggling resumed.

"They did such good work turning my photos into trading cards," the captain of the Fourth Division sighed happily. She intended to reward the girls' hard work, of course... But not before she had her take.


	12. Brand New World

**Shunpo to the Future! – Brand New World**

_Disclaimer:_ Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo.

"So… let me get this straight. You're from 50 years in the future and somehow by accident, you got thrown back to this time period?" asked Urahara in a sceptical tone.

Ichigo nodded from his seat in the cleaned up dining room. "That's right. It's thanks to this device I got here in front of me. The original shell was that of another vehicle. I think that shell's properties along with the special kido that you came up with in my timeframe allowed me to travel back in the first place. When I tried the same with this new shell, all it did was warp me to this location… just where the heck are we anyway?"

Soken totally ignored Ichigo's question as he appeared to be zoned out. "Yoruichi's a woman…"

"You really should relax a bit, Soken-kun. At this rate, you'll undo all of the patching up that Tessai did for your stressed muscles," purred the ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Covert Ops while her fingers danced over the Quincy's white top.

"Take it easy on the boys, would you? Please change back into your cat form or go upstairs to change into some clothes," muttered Urahara.

"You're no fun." Nonetheless, she complied and left the dining room with a slight sway in her step. It took a great amount of effort for Ichigo and Soken to keep their eyes focused on something else other than her bared behind.

"So… are you willing to help me out, Urahara?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to conduct a little test to prove that you really are from the future, Kurosaki-san. Hold on a second." The man got up from his seat and left the room to go get something. This left Ichigo and Soken alone for a bit.

"…… Yoruichi's a woman," mumbled the Quincy in a dazed tone.

"You're taking this well. I freaked when I saw her for the first time…" He helped himself to a tea biscuit from a batch that was used to replace the cookies that he had scattered earlier.

"…… Yoruichi sounded so much like a guy as a cat. It's…… mind boggling."

"No argument here…" It was at that moment that Urahara returned to the dining room with a small box in his hands and took his seat at the table.

"Now you told me that I helped to restore your Shinigami powers after you had gotten into a fight over your head and had your Soul Sleep and Chain Link destroyed. If that's the case, then I would like you to say the incantation to activate the item in the box as proof that I had helped you in your timeframe." The man passed the box towards Ichigo, who opened it and gasped at the item in the box.

"T-this is…!"

Soken snapped out of his daze as his curiosity got the better of him. "A white piece of headgear… and white combat gloves?"

"You actually expect me to say… that?!" screeched Ichigo at the former Twelfth Division Captain.

"It's probably the most certain way for me to know that you speak the truth," said Urahara without batting an eye.

The orange-haired youth ground his teeth and cursed under his breath for a bit before forcing the lines out of his mouth.

"_Take this, the Power of Righteousness! Righteous Armour, the JUSTICE Headband! Equip!_"

Soken blinked a few times before a chortle escaped his lips. Soon, he was laughing his butt off while Urahara nodded in approval. "Well, that's definite proof enough. I only came up with that saying last week."

"You are such a bastard, you know that? Why couldn't you just ask me something else about the Shattered Shaft? Or those… just where are those kids of yours? Jinta and Ururu?"

Urahara had a slightly surprised look on his face. "Kids… oh, now I understand what you mean. I actually haven't created a _gigai_ yet for those two modified souls."

It was now Ichigo's turn to be surprised while Soken was able to calm down from earlier. "Mod souls?!"

"Of course. I created the first one specifically as an anti-Shinigami combatant while modifying the other one as its support unit. Were you expecting that a human soul would be able to fight at that level right off the bat?"

Rukia's words on the subject and memories of his first meeting with Kon surfaced. "Mod souls… you were involved in that project?"

A genuine look of regret appeared on the man's face. "It was a different time back then. The project had come up shortly after the Shinigami Quincy war ended since our numbers at the time weren't enough to deal with the rate of Hollow emergences. I'm not exactly sure when the ethical issue came up but I'm glad it did. Implementing enhancements on normal human souls shortly after they die in the living world and forcing them to fight Hollows… that was truly a violation of individual freedom."

He sighed once before the cheerful expression returned. "Well, let's not talk about that depressing stuff! Let's see what we can do to help you out with your problem!"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"So you're pretty convinced he is who he says he is…"

Urahara briefly glanced at the visitor to his workshop. "That's right. I've already disassembled the shell and examined the core which powers this device. I can recognize some bits of my handiwork here… if only he had a sample of the original shell!"

Yoruichi, who was now dressed in her standard combat uniform since it's probably the only thing she felt comfortable wearing nowadays, glanced at the shell that had been used previously. "A Volkswagen Beetle? What kind of fruitcake would use that for a shell?"

"Ichigo told me that it was the work of a clown. I do admit that's an interesting insult for Mayuri," said the former Twelfth Division Captain with a light chuckle.

His companion walked into the room and opened the bottle of milk that she had in her hands. "You know… since you're convinced that he is from the future, we can get some interesting information out of him. He seems to be caught up in some major events surrounding Soul Society. Maybe we can make some good use out of what he could tell us."

"I don't think that would be a wise idea. Anything we know about the future could trigger a time paradox on a scale that we can't even imagine. I'm actually certain that we're already caught in a causality loop."

"…… oh?" It was the only response that she could give which made her sound intelligent enough to understand what Urahara was saying.

"Well, to be more technical… it would probably be an ontological paradox which also occurs at the same time as the predestination paradox. Kurosaki-san, regardless of whether it was intentional or not, has essentially altered this time frame. Information from the future has already changed the past and that information will likely be the foundation of future events that will shape the timeframe he is familiar with. For example, my exposure to the kido core here will undoubtedly remain in my memory until I create the same kido core that fuels the device that Kurosaki-san uses to travel here."

"……" Yoruichi chose not to say anything while sipping her milk. Honestly, this whole paradox stuff is giving her a headache.

"Judging from your enthusiasm to obtain information earlier, you are probably an unconscious believer of the parallel universes theory or the relative timeline resolution theory. Honestly, there's no way to tell whether we have actual parallel universes or whether each individual has their own unique timeline in the same universe. I must say that the enigmatic riddle that Kurosaki-san has presented is quite intriguing. I'll probably have to keep an eye out on him once he's born…"

"Uh… just out of curiosity, how long do you think it would take to assist Ichigo?"

Urahara stroked his chin as he gave it some thought. "I can't say for sure. I'll need time to examine the core so I know how its energy output works and then I need time to build a proper shell so that the output and shell are in sync to throw Kurosaki-san through time to his desired timeframe. I'm thinking a week at the minimum…"

"In that case, I'll let you get back to work." The ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Covert Ops quietly slipped out the door and back to where Soken and Ichigo were quietly engaged in small talk. The Shinigami noticed Yoruichi's presence and got up from his spot on the couch.

"Well?"

"At least a week but don't worry too much about it. We won't be easily found by Soul Society. After all, we've been out of their radar for the past fifty years ever since the Central 46 Chambers passed down their decision to execute Kisuke," said the woman as she finished her milk.

"Judgement? What did Urahara-san do?" asked Soken.

"It's a long story and it's not mine to tell." She tossed the bottle over her shoulder and it landed right in the disposal bin.

"If it's going to be at least a week… then can I ask you a favour, Yoruichi-san?" Ichigo's brown eyes locked on to the woman's golden eyes. "I would appreciate it if you can help train me in developing other combat skills like kido, hakuda and whatever other Shinigami arts I can train in. I have an important mission waiting for me and it would be better if I came back with a few new tricks up my sleeve."

"…… it has been a while since I last engaged in combat and-"

The orange-haired youth cut her off. "Please! There's someone depending on me to help them and I need to be stronger!"

She gave it some thought before sighing in surrender. "I suppose I can give some help…"

"May I join you as well?" The two were surprised as Soken spoke up. "I would also like to participate in this training to improve myself. That battle with Shunsui-san has motivated me to try and reach the heights of power that my ancestors once had."

"A virtually unknown Shinigami… and a Quincy," murmured the woman. Then she grinned. "Why not? The training space should be ready by now since Tessai's been working on finishing touches for the past week…"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"…… what is that?"

Urahara's tired eyes met the brown eyes of the youth who had just finished his last training session with Yoruichi and Soken in the large training room built underneath the residence. Ichigo's black outfit was a bit torn from the wear and tear of seven days of training. "It's the new shell I came up with for your device. I understand that it's not what you had described but since you didn't have the original shell with you and couldn't give accurate measurements for that 'De-Lorean' that you had mentioned…"

"Now it looks like a steam locomotive…" 'Well… it's better than the De-Lorean, right?'

"You have to understand that this is the best I could do with the resources that I have on me," said the man as he gave a loud yawn. "It will function a bit differently from your original device. You said that originally, you channelled some reiatsu into the device while in the middle of a flash step, right? Now, there's a different procedure with this new shell. You're familiar with Shiba Kuukaku's spirit orb, right? The one to create a cannonball to launch from her super cannon?"

"Yeah." Honestly, how could he forget that experience?

"Good. Then what you need to do is first channel your spirit energy like you did to create a cannonball. After that, you will need to first perform a small set of movements along with an incantation to trigger the shell's properties before doing the same thing that you did with the original device to travel back in time in the first place!"

"…… did you just get what he said?" whispered Yoruichi into Soken's ear.

"Not really," admitted the Quincy, who was trying to catch his breath from the last day of training. At least his stamina had improved a lot by fighting both Kurosaki and Yoruichi.

"Just what are these movements… and this incantation?" asked Ichigo.

"Before I tell you… I was wondering if I can ask you to take something along when you go back to your future…" Urahara then caught the youth's shocked look.

"Y-you're asking me to take…"

And in that moment, he understood. "You know what… forget that I asked. It seems that the particular item I have in mind plays a role in the timeline you remember, right? Besides, you probably don't want to risk triggering another few dozen time paradoxes and I can understand that." He took out a page that was filled with kanji and handed it over. "I wrote down all that you need to make your trip. This side is the incantation and this side is the set of movements. You must perform each action in sync with the words. If you don't, the consequences could be… explosive. And one more thing… please keep in mind the uncertainty principle. Even though we have made every effort to get you where you need to go, we cannot know with absolute certainty where you will end up."

Ichigo didn't bother responding as he was twitching at the list of movements. "You're absolutely sure this is what I have to do?" And the kanji seemed weird… what kind of words were these anyway?

"Cross my heart!"

He seriously considered slapping the former Research Institute President but decided he could save it for when he gets back. "Alright… let's get this over with!" He memorized the sheet before stuffing it in his black coat and grasping his new device tightly.

"Stand back everyone!" shouted Tessai as the group of four gave plenty of space to Ichigo as he concentrated his spirit power just like he did with the cannonball. Once he was enclosed in a stable sphere of spirit energy, he began the set of movements and spoke the strange words that were on the paper.

He hopped a bit to his left. "Eet's jausta jemp tue tha levta."

"…… what the hell is he saying?" mumbled Yoruichi in a dumbfounded tone.

Then he stepped right. "Und zen ah estepa tue tha writo."

"I honestly have no clue," muttered Soken in response.

Ichigo placed his hands on his hips. "Weetha yaure handsa un yaure heeps."

Tessai merely started calculating how much damage to the area this would cause and how much time he would have to spend on repairs.

His legs bent inwards so that the knees could touch. "Yuu baaringa yaure neez een tieto." After that line, he shot his pelvis forward.

Yoruichi had to smirk at that action. "Hmmm… aren't you a daring little boy?"

"Butto eet's tha pellavico tharusto zat reelee darivas yuu eenzana." It was then Ichigo realized what the hell he was saying when his English lessons kicked in.

"**DAMMIT, SANDAL-HAT!! I'M NOT SINGING 'LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!'" **

Even though the youth said the last line in Japanese, the device started glowing strangely and he realized that it was now or never. After making a mental reinforcement of his vow to beat up Urahara, he turned around and made his flash step. There was a flash of light and when the group could see again, the only trace of Ichigo having been in the room were the two long blazing trails.

There was a long silence as they continued to watch the fires burn before Urahara started giggling in delight. "It worked. It actually worked! YAHOOI!!" He immediately went into a little happy dance, just twirling around while laughing like a lunatic.

"Ah, he'll be a while. Let's get you home, kid." Soken nodded before he followed Yoruichi to the exit of the room. Tessai then left a little while later as he had to start working on those damage calculations, leaving the dancing Urahara alone in the chamber.

The former captain of the Twelfth Division continued to dance alone for a good while until a large static sound from out of nowhere finally snapped him out of his dance. He also felt a large spiritual pressure unlike any other. Whatever this pressure was, the one who exerted it was within this same chamber. He cursed himself in his head for not bringing Benihime down with him in case of an emergency. But then again, it's not common for him to be stalked in his very own training chamber.

He was so lost in his own senses that he failed to register the voice calling out to him. "Sandal-Hat!! Sandal-Hat!! Sandal-Hat!!"

'…… wait a minute! That sounded familiar!'

That was when Kisuke felt a pair of arms spin him around. "Sandal-Hat!!"

As soon as he laid eyes on the intruder, he let out a rather undignified scream of shock. "AARRRGGHHH!! W-w-wha… ?!"

The intruder had the same orange hair, brown eyes and youthful look as Kurosaki Ichigo and he could make out the familiar handle of the young man's zanpakuto but the top left side of his face and the bottom right side of his jaw were covered by pieces of a Hollow Mask. He wore a long shredded white cloak with pieces of black fabric sticking out from multiple angles. A black sash was wrapped around his mid-section while a small bit of his chest could be seen along with the hole where his Chain of Fate used to be. The rest of his outfit consisted of a white hakama, black socks and white sandals.

"Okay, relax Urahara. It's me! It's me, Ichigo!"

He shook his head in denial. "NOOO!! It can't be you!! I just sent you back to the future… as a _Shinigami_!!"

Ichigo tried to get the man to calm down. "I know. It's a long story about how I turned into an _Arrancar_ but you did send me back to the future. Now I'm back from the future…… and I need your help."

There was a long pause of silence in the chamber until Urahara finally uttered two words.

"…… Great Scott!" And with that, he fainted due to the shock of Ichigo's return and the exhaustion of working on the new shell.

The youth groaned at his new predicament. "Urahara? Come on, man… wake up!!"

**TO BE CONTINUED IN……**

'**SONIDO TO THE FUTURE!'**

**OMAKE: Shinigami's Cup Golden!**

He hopped a bit to his left. "Eet's jausta jemp tue tha levta."

"…… what the hell is he saying?" mumbled Yoruichi in a dumbfounded tone.

Then he stepped right. "Und zen ah estepa tue tha writo."

"I honestly have no clue," muttered Soken in response.

Ichigo placed his hands on his hips. "Weetha yaure handsa un yaure heeps."

Tessai merely started calculating how much damage to the area this would cause and how much time he would have to spend on repairs.

His legs bent inwards so that the knees could touch. "Yuu baaringa yaure neez een tieto." After that line, he shot his pelvis forward.

Yoruichi had to smirk at that action. "Hmmm… aren't you a daring little boy?"

"Butto eet's tha pellavico tharusto zat reelee darivas yuu eenzana."

"**LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!**" The entire training room suddenly became filled with all the other characters of the Bleach cast.

"What the hell?!" screeched Ichigo.

"Ichigo-dono!! Let's dance together!" shouted Hinamori as she tried to get through the crowd.

"No, dance with me!" Senna started weaving through the number of humans, Shinigami, Arrancar and Vizard.

As the other characters started the song again, Ichigo merely grabbed Zangetsu and started banging his head against the flat part of the sword in an attempt to knock himself out.

"_It's just a jump to the left._

_And then a step to the right._

_With your hands on your hips._

_You bring your knees in tight._

_But it's the pelvic thrust_

_That really drives you insane._

_**LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!!**_"

**OOOOOOOOOO**

"-chigo?"

"Mom? Mom, is that you?" The youth regained consciousness and could feel that he had been lying on his bed. 'What am I saying? Mom's dead!'

"There there, you've been asleep for 12 hours now! Now get up because you have a big date with Nemu-san!" At the mention of the word date, Ichigo got up and turned to the person who had been speaking.

He pointed a shaking finger at the figure near his bed. "You're my… my… YOU'RE THAT SCARY CLOWN WHO WANTS TO EAT ME!!"

"No, wait… I don't eat my research subjects!"

"BANKAI!!"


End file.
